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UBBARY OF CONGRESS 




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MESSAGE 

FROM THE 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRANSMITTING 

A REPORT FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE 

CONCERNING THE 

UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION TO BE HELD AT PARIS IN THE YEAR 1867, 



To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States : 

I transmit a report of this date from the Secretary of State, and the papers 
referred to therein, concerning the Universal Exposition to be held at Paris in 
the year 1867, in which the United States have been invited by the govern- 
ment of France to take part. I commend the subject to your early and favor- 
able consideration. 

ANDREW JOHNSON. 
Washington, December 11, 1865. 



Department of State, 

Washington, December 11, 1865. 

The Secretary of State has the honor to submit a copy of correspondence 
between the Department of State and the minister of France upon the subject 
of an invitation extended by the government of France to that of the United 
States, to take part in a proposed Universal Exposition to be held at Paris in 
the year 1867 ; also a copy of correspondence between the department and the 
minister of the United States at Paris, and other papers, explaining the nature 
and magnitude of the Exposition, the general utility of such exhibitions, and the 
measures which it has been found expedient to adopt, subject to the approval 
of Congress, in order to secure for the United States the advantages of partici- 
pation by their citizens in the Exposition. 

It being necessary that the imperial commission at Paris should, to enable 
them to carry out their programme of arrangements, so far as it relates to the 
United States, be notified, without delay, of the decision of this government, it 
becomes important for Congress, at the earliest practicable moment, to adopt 
such proceedings as in their judgment may be best calculated to meet the re- 
quirements of the occasion. 

Special attention is invited to the copy of a letter of the 16th ultimo from 
N. M. Beckwith, esquire, the Provisional Commissioner General of the United 



2 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS AO. Ow V 

States at Paris, which is appended to one of the same date from Mr. Bigelow,, 
and which clearly explains the importance of prompt action. 

From the correspondence it will appear that the selection of the officers here- 
inafter named, subject to the approval of Congress, was an indispensable pre- 
liminary for any participation by the United States in the exhibition, namely : 
John Bigelow, esquire, (the minister of the United States at Paris,) special agent 
of the United States for the Exposition, (without extra compensation for that 
service ; N. M. Beckwith, esquire, Commissioner General of the United States, 
(without compensation;) Monsieur J. F. Loubat, honorary commissioner of the 
United States, (without compensation;) J. C. Derby, esquire, general agent in 
the United States, resident at New York. 

It will also appear that such appropriation for the payment of necessary ex- 
penses as may be made will be a judicious outlay, from which large returns 
may be confidently anticipated in effects upon the national revenues and re- 
sources, by tending to expand the demand for our productions, by attracting 
for the development of our latent wealth re-enforcements of labor and capital, 
and in the collection and diffusion of useful knowledge, of the improved applica- 
tions of science to agriculture, manufactures', and art, through the results of the 
reports of the general scientific committee. The moral influence, moreover, of 
a just and liberal illustration of the vitality and progress of this nation, at such 
an international gathering, so soon after a great civil war, ought not to be over- 
looked in the consideration of this subject. 
Respectfully submitted : 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

The President. 



16 l3 l G7 



^P96-024772 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 



DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ACCOMPANYING PAPERS. 



Mr. de Geofroy to Mr. Seward, 27th March, 1865, inviting the United States to unite 

in the exhibition .7 

Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow, 5th April, 1865, who is instructed to say that the Presi- 
dent favorably regards the project ; promising concurrence so far as possible, subject 

to the approval of Congress, &c 8 

Mr. Seward to Mr. de Geofroy, 7th April, 1865, relative to the above reply 8 

Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, 12th April, (extract;) Mr. Bigelow's conference, at the 
invitation of Prince Napoleon,, with Mr. Le Play, the imperial commissioner, upon 
the subject; has consulted N. M. Beckwith, esq., formerly a commissioner at the 

New York exhibition 9 

Mr. Beckwith to Mr. Bigelow, 3d April, 1865 ; the utility of such exhibitions ; expe- 
rience thereof in France. Causes of the failure of the United States to fully participate 
in former exhibitions. Requirements necessary to secure for us the benefits of this 
one : 1st. The appoinment of a competent commissioner. 2d. An agency at New 
York. 3d. A committee composed — 1st, of professional and scientific persons, whom 
the government should appoint to study and report on the exhibition ; 2d, of agents 
appointed by States or associations, &c, to aid the general work ; the agent at New 
York, and the professional men appointed by government, to be paid — all others to 
serve gratuitously. Reasons why Congress will probably provide the necessary 

funds 10 

Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, (extract,) 17th April, 1865, recommending the selection of 
Mr. N. M. Beckwith as Commissioner General of the United States for the Exposi- 
tion 12 

Mr. Hunter to Mr. Bigelow, 5th June, 1865, expressing the opinion that Congress will 

gladly sanction the appointment of Mr. Beckwith as Commissioner General 12 

Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow, enclosing a letter of appointment for Mr. J. F. Loubat 

as honorary commissioner 13 

Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, 2d August, 1865, as to the extent of the space to be 
allowed — nine times that reserved in former exhibitions; enclosed correspondence 
on this point, also general regulations and classification ; leading features thereof. 
Local committees in the United States to select a commission of savans, agriculturists, 

manufacturers, &c, to report on the exhibition ■ 13 

Mr. Le Play, imperial commissioner, to Mr. Bigelow, 22d July, 1865, enclosing 

regulations and plan fixing the extent of space at 2,788 square metres 17 

Table giving dates for the successive steps in the organization, &c, of the exhibition, 17 

General regulations, 7th July, 1865 18 

First section. General dispositions and system of classification, enumeration of groups. 18 

Second section. Special provisions concerning works of art 20 

Third section. Special provisions concerning the productions of agriculture and 

industry 20 

Section 1. Admission and classification 20 

Section 2. Conveyance, arrival, and location of goods in the palace and the park 

Section 3. Administration and police 23 

Section 4. Closing of the Exposition and removal of goods ' .. 24 

Section B. System of classification 24 

First group. Works of art 24 

Second group. Materials and their application in the liberal arts 24 






4 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

Page. 

Third group. Furniture and other objects used in dwellings 25 

Fourth group. Garments, tissues for clothing, and other articles of wearing apparel.. 26 

Fifth group. Products, wrought and unwrought, of extractive industries . 27 

Sixth group. Instruments and processes of common arts 28 

Seventh group. Food, fresh or preserved, in various stages of preparation 30 

Eighth group. Animals and specimens of agricultural establishments 31 

Ninth group. Living products and specimens of horticultural establishments 31 

Tenth group. Objects exhibited with a special view to the amelioration of the moral 

and physical condition of the population 32 

Document C. Applications especially of French exhibitors . . 32 

Mr. Beckwith to Mr. Bigelow, 30th July, 1865 ; organization of the commission for 

the United States 33 

Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, No. 158, 22d August, 1865 35 

Mr. Le Play to Mr. Bigelow, assigning space to the United States in the palace. 

Space in the park reserved for future decision 35 

Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow, No. 236, 2d September, 1865 ; Department of State can- 
not act upon the matter in the absence of legislation ; all the space assigned will, 
however, probably be required; suggests extension of time for filing application.. 36 
Mr Seward to Mr. Bigelow, No. 266, 21st September, 1865, enclosing statement, 

circular, and pamphlet; hopes the proposed extension of time will be ample, &c. 36 
Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, No. 174, 21st September, 1865, as to the organization of 
an international scientific commission to note the recent advances in science and art, 
and to diffuse knowledge of useful discoveries. Suggests that the United States 
send a few of its cleverest men of science to form a part of this commission, &c. 37 
Special order, of 10th September, 1865, by the imperial commission, establishing the 

scientific commission and prescribing its functions 37 

Mr. Hunter to Mr. Derby, 9th October, 1865 % relative to his selection as agent in the 

United States for the Exposition, Steps already taken to promulgate information .. 38 
Mr. Hunter to Mr. Derby, 9th October, 1865, enclosing copy of instruction to Mr. 

Bigelow 39 

Mr. Hunter to Mr. Bigelow, No. 284, 9th October, 1865, announcing the selection of 
J. C. Derby, esq., as agent for the Exposition in the United States. Suggestion in 
regard to extension of time for applications. Encloses copy of communication from 

Governor Oglesby, of Illinois, concerning extension of time 39 

Governor Oglesby to Mr. Seward, September 28, 1865, (enclosure, ) enclosing copy of 
letter from honorable John P. Reynolds, secretary of the State Agricultural Society 

of Illinois 39 

Mr. Reynolds to Governor Oglesby, urging extension of time 40 

Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, No. 191, 27th October, 1865; selection of representative 
articles of every class rather than excess of any one class, to make the exhibition 

universal 41 

Mr. Beckwith to Mr. Bigelow, 26th October, 1865 ; his arrangements with Mr. Derby; 

selections of articles ; assistance is needed by Mr. Derby 41 

Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow, 11th November, 1865 ; receipt of No. 191, &c 42 

Circular from Department of State, 18th October, 1865, enclosing statement of facts as 

to the appointment of Mr. Derby, and filing applications 42 

Mr. Hunter to Mr. Bigelow, No. 290, 23d October, 1865 ; scientific commission 43 

Mr. BigeloAv to Mr. Seward, No. 189, 25th October, 1865 ; successful result of the ap- 
plication for extension of time for presenting applications from the United States. . 43 
Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Le Play, 13th October, 1865, applying for the extension of time.. 44 
Mr. Le Play to Mr. Bigelow, 23d October, 1865, announcing the extension of time... '45 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 5 

Page 
Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Le Tiny, 25th October, 1865 ; acknowledgment for the above con- 
cession 46 

Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow, No. 308, 13th November, 1S65; thanks to imperial gov- 
ernment and commission 46 

Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, 16th November, 1865, enclosing copy of letter of same 
date from Mr. Beckwith, explaining importance of prompt action by Congress on 
the subject — 46 

Circular to public by Mr. Derby, 16th November, 1865, giving full directions to ap- 
plicants, and enclosing duplicate blank forms of application 47 

Mr. Derby to governors of all States and Territories, 24th November, 1865, enclosing 

circulars and pamphlets 48 

Professor Joy to Mr. Derby, (extract,) December 4, 1865, relative to scientific com- 
mittee to report on exhibition, and to the national effects of such exhibitions 49 

Mr. Thayer to Mr. Seward, October 15, 1865, transmitting resolutions of Maryland In- 
stitute commending the proceedings of the Department of State on the subject 50 

Mr. Seward to Mr. Thayer, 9th December, acknowledging the above 51 

Series of letters from Mr. Beckwith to Mr. Derby, and other papers relative to the de- 
tails of exhibition, numbered 4, 9, 10, 12, 14, respectively 51 

Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, 24th November, 1865, No. 204, enclosing letters of the 
23d and 24th November from Mr. Beckwith relative to estimates for appropriations 
necessary, and concerning the importance of such exhibitions to the United States.. ' 57 

Mr. Derby to Mr. Seward, December 14, 1865, enclosing copies of letters from Mr. — 
Beckwith and Professor Joy relative to details to be carried out in forming the Amer- 
ican part of the Exposition, namely: Mr. Beckwith to Mr. Derby, 27th November, 
1865; Mr. Beckwith to Mr. Derby 29th November, 1865; Professor Joy to Mr. 
Derby, 6th December, 1865 60 



• 



i 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Mr. de Geofroy to Mr. Seward, 

[Translation.] 

Legation of France to the United States 

Washington, March 27, 1S65. 

Sir : By two decrees, dated June 22 and the 1st of last month, the Emperor 
has ordered that a universal exhibition of the productions of agriculture, manu- 
facture, and the fine arts should be opened at Paris May 1, 1867. Another de- 
cree, also issued February 1, of this year, and published in the Moniteur the 
21st of the same month, has placed this grand international solemnity under 
the direction and supervision of a commission, the presidency of which has been 
confided to his Serene Highness Prince Napoleon. 

Such a selection bears too high testimony to the importance which the 
Emperor attaches to the success of this universal exhibition to leave any need 
to dwell upon it. As to the commission, it is composed of several of his Majesty's 
ministers, of high functionaries of state, as well as of the most competent of 
notable individuals. 

The government of his Majesty charges me to give notice, officially, of these 
aforesaid decrees to the cabinet of Washington, to invite its valuable concurrence, 
and to designate an authority with which the imperial commission could have a 
direct understanding. 

It would also be of advantage, to avoid all loss of time, that the government 
of the United States should make choice at Paris of an agent who would be 
specially delegated to be near his Serene Highness the Prince Napoleon. 

This mode of procedure is the most suitable channel, and the speediest, to 
convey to the knowledge of the imperial commission the wishes of the exhibitors 
from abroad. 

The government of his Majesty would attach a high value to being informed 
as early as possible of the result of the steps I am charged to take which have 
an exceptional character of urgency. 

The objects sent to the exibition will be received, in effect, in a palace con 
structed for the occasion of this Folemnity, and the size of which should meet 
the actual need of the exhibitors of all nations. But that the general arrange- 
ments and plans which shall be adopted may be in relation with the claims for 
space which will be preferred, it will be necessary that the imperial commission 
should know, with the least delay, what states will take part in the exhibition, 
and now much space each would desire to obtain. 

In ending the letter he has written to me on the subject, the minister for foreign 
affairs adds that he is gratified to hope that the government of the United States 
will show a disposition to facilitate, so far as it is concerned, the success of the 
work confided to the imperial commission. It is too enlightened not to appre- 
ciate the advantages of these solemnities, at which nations contract new ties, 
•collect useful and mutual lessons, and thus assure the development of their 
prosperity. 

Accept, sir, the assurances of my high consideration. 

L. de GEOFROY. 

Hon. William H. Seward, Sfc., Sfc., Sec. 



8 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 



Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow. 

No. 105.J ' Department of State, 

Washington, April 5, 1865. 

Sir : I give you, for your information, a copy of a note which I have recently 
received from Mr. de Geofroy, charge d'affaires of the Emperor, concerning a 
projected universal exhibition of productions of agriculture, manufactures, and 
the fine arts, to be opened at Paris on the first day of May, 1867, under the 
direction. and supervision of a commission in which his Serene Highness the 
Prince Napoleon will preside. 

You will inform Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys that the President of the United States 
regards the project thus described with great favor, as well because of the benefi- 
cent influence it may be expected to exert upon the prosperity of the nations 
as of its tendency to preserve peace and mutual friendship among them. 

The Prince Napoleon is most favorably known on this side of the Atlantic,, 
and his connexion with the exhibition will increase its proper prestige in the 
eyes of the government and people of the United States. 

What the executive government can do by way of concurrence in the noble 
purpose of his Majesty will, therefore, be very cheerfully done. The design 
and arrangements will be promptly promulgated. For the present you will 
confer with Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys, as a special agent of this government, and 
will bring yourself into near relations with the Prince. 

This is as far, however, as the President is able to proceed without special 
legislative authority. Application for that authority will be made to Congress 
when it shall have convened. In the mean time this department will receive 
and give due attention to any suggestions which the government of France may 
desire to offer, with a view to a complete success of the contemplated exhibition. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

John Bigelow, Esq., 8fc., Sfc, 8fc. 



Mr. Seward to M. de Geofroy. 

Department of State, 

Washington, April 7, 1S65. 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 27th 
ultimo, in regard to the arrangements made by the imperial government for 
opening at Paris, in the year 1867, a. universal exhibition of the productions of 
agriculture, manufactures, and the fine arts. 

I have the honor to inform you that I have conveyed to the minister for 
foreign affairs of his Imperial Majesty, through Mr. Bigelow, the minister of 
the United States at Paris, the reply of this government to the very courteous 
invitation contained in your note. A copy of my instruction to Mr. Bigelow, 
which bears the date of the 5th instant, is enclosed for your information ; and I 
have the honor to acquaint you that the correspondence which has taken place 
on the subject will be immediately made public. 

Accept, sir, a renewed assurance of my highest consideration. 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, 
By F. W. SEWARD, 

Assistant Secretary. 

Mr. L. de Geofroy, fye., fyc., $c. 

The foregoing correspondence was published in the newspapers on or about 
the 8th of April, 1865. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 9 

Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward. 
[Extract.] 

No. 72.] Legation of the United States, 

Paris, April 12, 1865. ' 

Sir : I presume you have already received official notice of the Universal 
Exposition which it is proposed to holdin Paris in the summer of 1867, coupled 
with a request that the ingenuity and enterprise of our people should be repre- 
sented in it. That you may lack none of the elements in my possession which 
are necessary to determine the true policy of the United States in reference to 
this Exposition, I will state what has occurred at this legation in connexion 
with it. 

On the 18th of last month I received a note from Prince Napoleon, president 
of the imperial commission, inviting me to confer with M. Le Play, commissioner 
general of the exposition, in reference to a proper representation of the United 
States on the occasion, to which his Imperial Highness professed to attach much 
importance. Early in the following week M. Le Play called upon me at the 
legation, and since then I have had a second interview with him at his office. 
He seemed anxious to know, in the first place, if my government would feel an 
interest in having the ingenuity and skill of the country represented at the Ex- 
position. I ventured to express to him my decided conviction that it would ; 
that in 1867, we all hoped and believed, grim-visaged war would have smoothed 
his wrinkled front in the United States, and the arts of peace would have re- 
sumed their accustomed supremacy, in which case an opportunity of seeing, at 
a glance, what progress the whole world had made in the arts of civilization 
during the preceding five or ten years, and also of showing to the world what 
we ourselves had accomplished, would unquestionably be highly prized by my 
countrymen. 

M. Le Play seemed highly gratified by this assurance. He said the Prince 
president had been very much astonished by the marvels of ingenuity and skill 
which he had observed in the United States, and was anxious to have them 
more known and appreciated in France. 

M. Le Play, with the utmost delicacy, suggested that it would be desirable 
that our government should place the direction of its representation at the Ex- 
position in the hands, and, as far as possible, under the absolute control, of some 
person worthy of the trust, through whom the exhibitors, or their agents, and 
the central commission, might communicate as occasion required. He spoke 
of this arrangement as likely to obviate some of the inconveniences which the 
commission experienced at the Exposition of 1855. On that occasion nearly 
every State had its separate commissioner, subordinated to no central authority. 
Infinite confusion, and a great deal of dissatisfaction on both sides, were the in- 
evitable consequences. M. Le Play, who was also commissioner general of 
the Exposition of 1855, seemed to think it highly desirable that some trusty 
and competent person be invested with exclusive authority to communicate offi- 
cially with the central commission, and to require the several State commis- 
sioners or agents to communicate through him as the proper agent or represent- 
ative of the whole nation, just as on all political matters they would communi- 
cate through its diplomatic agent. I told M. Le Play that I concurred entirely 
with him in this suggestion, and should not fail to recommend it to my govern- 
ment, though, as an appropriation for money would be necessary to give such a 
commissioner his proper efficiency, the suggestion had come too late, I feared, 
for as early action as would be desirable. Congress having adjourned, no money 
could be appropriated by the government, for this purpose, before next winter, 
and it was, therefore, impossible for me to say in what way my government 
might find it convenient to manifest its interest in the objects of the Exposition 
before that time. M. Le Play seemed to regret the delay, which he feared might 



10 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

prejudice the interests of our representation in this wise. It is proposed to ap- 
propriate the Champs de Mars to the Exposition. A vast building is to be con- 
structed in the centre of this beautiful space, which embraces about one hundred 
and fifty acres ; and around the edifice, at a proper distance, groups of houses, 
or small villages, will be constructed and furnished to represent the domestic 
habits and characteristics of different nations. This will probably be the greatest 
novelty of the Exposition, if successfully executed, and nothing will be neglected 
by the Prince president, who has his heart very much in it, to make it a success. 
The plans for the structures necessary to the development of this feature ought 
to be matured without delay, and for that purpose there is immediate need of a 
commissioner to advise with in regard »to the United States. I suggested that 
perhaps the President might take it upon himself to name a commissioner now, 
and define his duties, leaving it to Congress, when it meets, to fix his compen- 
sation, if he is to be paid, and, in any case, to supply him with the funds re- 
quired in the proper execution of his duties. 

He seemed to think that the sooner such a person should present himself here 
the better, and at the same time gave me to understand that an office would be 
provided for him in the Palais de l'Industrie, beside his own, and all the archi- 
tects and personnel of the commission would be at his disposal. 

M. Le Play further informed me that it is the present intention of the impe- 
rial commission to assign about six times the space to exhibitors from the 
United States which was assigned to them in 1855. This is to be independent 
of the space occupied by the outside structures, which will doubtless be in pro- 
portion. 

When this subject began to occupy my attention, I consulted Mr. N. M. 
Beckwith, a very intelligent American gentleman, at present residing in Paris, 
who had been one of the commissioners at the New York Exposition of 1853, 
and who was also more or less in the councils of the American exhibitors at the 
Exposition of 1855. His experience and good judgment led me to attach great 
value to his opinion in regard to the proper mode of turning the Exposition of 
1867 to the best account, and I requested him to give me his views in writing. 
He has been good enough to do so, and I have taken the liberty of annexing 
them to this despatch. 

So far as I have any well-defined opinions upon the subject, they lead me to 
approve of the suggestions of Mr. Beckwith. I think, however, the success of 
the whole thing depends mainly upon having a competent central commissioner. 
He should be a man of high character ; reasonably familiar with the great 
sources of our national wealth ; accustomed to organize and employ the labor 
and talents of others ; thoroughly acquainted with the French people and their 
peculiar modes of organizing their industry, and, above all, he should be con- 
versant with their language, without which, all other accomplishments would be 

nearly valueless. 

# . # # # * * * * * 

I am sir, with great respect, your very obedient servant, 

JOHN BXGELOW. 
Hon. William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 



[Enclosure to despatch No. 72.] 

Mr. Beckwith to Mr. Bigelow. 

[Extract.] 

Paris, April 3, 1865. 
My Dear Mr. Bigelow : In continuation of our conversation about the international 
exhibition, permit me to add a few words. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 11 

The value of French exports last year was five hundred and eighty-one million dollars, 
and shows an increase of fifty-one per cent, in four years. 

This growth of the external commerce is but the index of the greater growth of internal 
commerce, resulting from the increased productiveness imparted to labor, skill, and capital ; 
and the increased productiveness is traceable in details directly to the application of the sci- 
ences to the industrial arts. 

If it be true that civilization was led in most countries for a long period by a few men of 
genius skilled in political science and literature, it is not less true that the men of physical 
science have at length come to their aid. 

The geologists, naturalists, chemists, mineralogists, inventors, and engineers, are now di- 
recting the labor of the world with a success never before attained. 

As the intellectual domination of the material world increases, the hardships and barren 
ness of toil diminish and its products multiply ; and while political science emancipates the 
enslaved races, physical science enslaves the elements and forces of nature and emanci- 
pates mankind. 

In this great movement the largest benefits will fall, with the largest markets in the 
world, to those who make the best provision for the development and diffusion of the practi 
cal sciences as applied to industry. 

No nation produces within itself all these in perfection, nor keeps up with the daily pro- 
gress in them ; but those are most advanced in the race who adopt the best methods of col- 
Jecting and disseminating the progressive knowledge resulting from the studies and labors 
of all. 

Among the methods for this purpose, international assemblies and exhibitions are in- 
creasing in numbers, in frequency, and in importance. 

A knowledge of many of the useful and successful combinations of science and industrial 
art cannot be conveyed in words ; they must be studied in models and specimens, which 
display at once the combinations and effects, the modes and results. 

These being the products of many localities and many countries, bringing them together 
facilitates their study, and affords, at the same time, the opportunity of careful and accu- 
rate comparisons, without which no study is complete. 

The utility which experience ascribes to this method is indicated in France by a compari- 
son of the provisions made for the exhibition of 1854 with those making for 1S67. 

The first was entered upon timidly, the government relying chiefly on private capital and 
enterprise, on which the labor and risk were thrown. The latter has been taken up boldly 
as a business of state, and projected on a larger scale, contemplating an expenditure of 
twenty millions of francs, of which twelve millions are to be supplied from the public 
funds, leaving eight millions as the probable contribution of visitors. 

The United States have never participated in these assemblies to the extent naturally sug- 
gested by their interests, intelligence and enterprise, nor derived from them the benefits they 
might have done. I attribute this to the want of a suitable organization of the movement, 
to the want of timely information on the subject, and provision for the transportation, place- 
ment and proper exposition of objects, and to the absence of the necessary co-operation of 
the government in aid of the exhibition. 

1st. The first step towards a proper organization is indicated by the regulations of the 
imperial commission, which require the governments intending to co-operate to appoint a 
commissioner, duly accredited to the imperial commission, which commissioner will have 
charge of the business belonging to the country whose government appoints him. It is 
necessaiy for the commissioner to be in constant communication with the imperial com- 
mission, to enable him to lay before the exhibitors early information of the plans and de- 
signs as they are developed during the whole progress of the formation of the exhibition. 

2d. The commissioner will require an agency in New York, to centralize the movement 
in the United States, to communicate with exhibitors, and impart to them the requisite in- 
formation in detail, and to facilitate in general the movement. 

3d. The Commissioner will also require (at a later period) the assistance of a committee, 
composed, 1st. Of the professional and scientific persons whom the government should ap- 
point to study and aid in preparing a suitable report of the exhibition, to be subsequently 
published. 2d. Of the agents appointed by different States, or associations, and such other 
persons as the commissioner may find necessary to aid in the general work. 

Remark. — The agent in New York, and the professional men the government may ap- 
point, should be paid; all others should serve without pay. The agent should select his 
own local committees or assistants, and so distribute them throughout the States as to render 
the movement active and efficient. 

This organization, completed in smaller details, is the simplest and the least that will an 
swer the purpose, and I feel no hesitation in expressing the conviction that nothing will be 
done on a scale worthy of the country, and with the completeness requisite for public benefit, 
if the government does not take the initiative in the manner and to the extent here indi- 
cated. 

It is obviously necessary that the organization should conform to the plan of the " impe- 
rial commission;" and it is equally obvious that in a movement of this kind, where there is 
no authority, and no corresponding responsibility, (which can only emanate from' the gov- 



12 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

eminent,) there is not likely to be the order, co-operation, and unity requisite for efficient 
management and useful results. 

If the government decide to inaugurate the business in this way, the monetary provision 
required from Congress will, doubtless, be readily made. The country which taxes itself 
and appropriates more public money to education than all other countries will readily aid 
its men of the industrial sciences and arts to be present with the evidences of their skill in 
an assembly of nations where all contribute for the improvement of all, and from which 
none can retire without benefit. 

The diffusion of knowledge is in proportion to the numbers brought in simultaneous con- 
tact with its sources and with each other; and the more numerous the objects assembled, 
the more numerous the exhibitors and visitors brought together, the better will be the results. 

Very truly yours, 

N. M. BECKWITH. 



Mr. Big e low to Mr. Seward. 

[Extract. ] 

Legation of the United States, 

Paris, April 17, 1865. 

########## 

You will receive by this mail a despatch about the Universal Exposition. 
Should you think well of my suggestion in regard to a Commissioner General 
for the United States to reside here, I do not think that you could make choice 
of a fitter or more acceptable man than Mr. Beckwith, (N. M.) He is a man 
of fortune ; would serve without pay ; is very intelligent and sensible ; knows 
France and the French thoroughly ; speaks their language ; has a rare genius 
for organization ; stands well here with the court and French society as well as 
American, and, what is rarer than all the rest of his accomplishments, has no 
undignified desire to see his name in the newspapers. Should it be my fortune 
to reside here as minister during the period of gestation of the Exposition, we 
should be able to act together more efficiently and harmoniously than persons 
possessing anything like co-ordinate jurisdictions of equal importance generally 
do. If he pleases you, his appointment cannot be made too soon. I think 
good results may come to us from this Exposition if it is properly managed, and 
not left to manage itself. 

If you will appoint Mr. Beckwith a commissioner, I will put him at once in 
relation with Mr. Le Play, and thus he will be prepared to send you, before the 
opening of Congress, an intelligent and practicable plan for organizing the 
American department, which would enable Congress to legislate upon the sub- 
ject intelligently and promptly. He would probably give satisfactory reasons 
for his recommendations. 



Yours, very sincerely, 

Hon. William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State. 



JOHN BIGELjOW. 



Mr. Hunter to Mr. Bigelow. 

Department of State, 

Washington, June 5, 1865. 

My Dear Sir : On the behalf of Mr Seward, and by his direction, I have to 
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th of April last, recommending 
Mr. Beckwith as a proper person to receive the appointment of Commissioner 
General from the United States to the Universal Exposition to be held in Paris. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 13 

Mr. Seward will give the matter of the appointment of a commissioner to the 
Universal Exposition his early consideration. Meantime, although there is no 
legal provision for his formal appointment, it may be safely assumed that Con- 
gress will gladly sanction the acceptance of his services upon the terms men- 
tioned in your letter. I will thank you, accordingly, to signify as much to him. 
I am, my dear sir, very respectfully yours, 



W. HUNTER. 



John Bigelow, Esq., fyc, fyc , Sfc. 



Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow. 

Department of State, 

Washington, July 3, 1865. 

Sir : It having been credibly represented to this department that Mr. J. F. 
Loubat, of Paris, would be willing to take part in the representation of the 
United States at the Universal Exposition to be held in that city in 1867, this 
government will gladly avail itself of his services as an honorary commissioner 
on its behalf. I accordingly enclose a letter of appointment of this date, ad- 
dressed to Mr. Loubat, which I will thank you to forward to its destination. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
John Bigelow, Esq., fyc, Sfc., fyc. 



Mr. Seward to Mr. Loubat. 

Department of State, 

Washington, July 3, 1865. 

Sir : Having received an intimation that it would be agreeable to you to 
take part in the representation of this government on the occasion of the ses- 
sion of the Universal Exposition proposed to be held at Paris, in May, in the 
year 1867, I hereby appoint you to be an honorary commissioner on the part 
of the United States for the said Exposition. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
Mr. J. F. Loubat, 8$v ., fyc, fyc, Paris, France. 



Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward. 
[With enclosures. ] 

No. 151.] Legation of the United States, 

Paris, August 2, 1865. 

Sir : At a recent interview with M. Le Play, the Commissioner General of 
the Universal Exposition of 1867, he informed me that the imperial commis- 
sioners had finally fixed upon the Champs de Mars for the site of the Exposi- 
tion, and had proposed to reserve for the United States 3,346 square metres of 
space within the edifice, with the privilege, if we required it, of some 1,600 
metres lying adjacent and not yet appropriated. The map which accompanies 
this despatch, and marked Enclosure No. 1, will show the manner in which 
this space is distributed, and the propoition which the aggregate bears to the 
allotments made to the other powers. 

M. Le Play wished to know what assurance I could give that we would 



14 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

occupy so much space. I replied that, unfortunately, this subject was not 
brought to the attention of my government until after the adjournment of Con- 
gress, which does not meet again until December next ; that the amount of 
space we should require would depend very much on the liberality of its ap- 
propriations, the executive government having no funds or credits available for 
such a purpose. I also read to him from your despatch, in which I was desig- 
nated as " special agent," the expressions of the interest which our govern- 
ment took in the Exposition ; directed his attention to the important changes 
in our domestic affairs since that despatch was .written, all calculated to favor 
our participation in the Exposition ; and I concluded by expressing my personal 
conviction that the United States would make good use of all the space that 
had been allotted to it, and that no effort would be wanting, on my part, to 
secure such a representation as would be creditable to my country. 

Further than this, I told him, I could not go ; for though I believed that any 
recommendation which the President might make upon this subject to Congress 
would receive its approval, I could give him no stronger assurance of it than 
my personal conviction. I urged the Commissioner General, at the same time, 
to let me have the detailed plans of the imperial commissioners at as early a 
moment as possible to submit to my government, that no time should be lost, 
on the one hand, in preparing a programme for the action of Congress, and, on 
the other, in taking steps to ascertain the disposition and requirements of ex- 
hibitors. 

About two weeks after this interview I received from M. Le Play two com- 
munications. Of the first, enclosure No. 2 is a copy, and enclosure No. 3 is a 
translation ; and of the second, enclosure No. 4 is a duplicate, and enclosure 
No. 5 is a translation. By enclosures Nos. 2 and 3 it will be observed that 
the imperial commission has felt constrained, in consequence of my inability 
to give the Commissioner General more definite assurances, to reduce our allow- 
ance of space room from 3,346 to 2,788 square metres. 

I have as yet made no reply to this communication, for I have none to make. 
Though the commission has left us about nine times the space that we occupied 
in 1855, still I regret the reduction, so firmly persuaded am I, should the op- 
portunity be fairly presented to our people, that the proportions which this 
Exposition is destined to take in the eyes of the world within the next twelve 
months will render it much more difficult to limit our contributions to the larger 
space than to fill it creditably. 

Enclosures Nos. 4 and 5 embrace the general regulations and the system of 
classification adopted by the commission. Eor the translation of the classifica- 
tion I am indebted to Mr. Beckwith, who has consented to act in the capacity 
of a special commissioner, under a power derived through me, as the special 
agent of the United States. In a note which accompanied this translation, Mr. 
Beckwith says : " If the government would publish the classification in the 
newspapers, they would thus probably reach every individual in the United 
States interested in the subject. The classifications, like a carefully written 
chapter of contents, comprise more information as to the scope, limits, character, 
and objects of the Exposition, than could be given in any other form in an equal 
space. They suggest, of themselves, much of the information most useful and 
most desired by the public at this stage of the enterprise, which renders it im- 
portant that they should be published and distributed without delay." 

I. concur entirely in this recommendation, for the reasons to which I shall 
refer more at length presently. If our people are to participate in this Exposi- 
tion, no time should be lost in supplying them with' the means of knowing how 
they may do so to the best advantage, and for that purpose they must study 
the regulations and systems of classification patiently and thoroughly. They 
may do that profitably, whether they finally exhibit or not, for they will there 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 15 

find probably the most complete classification of the products of human industry 
and art anywhere to be found in print. 

There are some features of the regulations to which it is proper that I should 
invite your attention at once. I may have occasion to trouble you about some 
of the others at a later da}'. 

The Exposition is to open on the 1st of April, 1867, and to close on the 31st 
of October of the same year. The foreign commissioners are to be notified of 
the space allotted to their respective nationalities before the 15th of August 
instant, after which I am given to understand that it will be impossible to make 
any material changes in that regard. All applications for admission, with a 
description of the articles to be exhibited, must be presented before the 31st of 
October, 1865, prior to which time also a plan or chart of the uses to which the 
space will be put by each nationality respectively must be made by the foreign 
commissioners, on a scale of m .002 per metre, and sent to the imperial com- 
missioners. 

Detailed plan of articles, and their distribution in the space assigned them, 
must be furnished on the same scale by the foreign commissioners, as well as 
materials for the official catalogue, before the 31st of January, 1866. 

It thus appears that within the next six months, and before any action is 
likely to be taken by Congress, the imperial commission must know not only 
precisely what articles will be offered for exhibition, but they must have an 
accurate plan of their distribution. How far these regulations may be relaxed, 
and the time extended, will depend upon circumstances ; but, from the nature 
of the case, it is impossible that they should be relaxed so as materially to 
relieve American exhibitors, for the reason that the plan of the exhibition 
requires a peculiar disposition of the articles, from which any serious departure 
is impracticable. This plan is explained in a communication from Mr. Beck- 
with, of which enclosure No. 6 is a copy, and to all of which I invite your 
attention. 

It may, therefore, be assumed that to wait for the action of Congress before 
organizing the American department of the Exposition of 1867, is equivalent to 
an abandonment of all profitable participation in it. All the plans must be laid, 
and the chief expenses incurred, if not made, before Congress can be heard from. 

Should our country people, however, attach to the privilege of sharing in the 
Exposition anything like the value which is attached to it by the people of 
Europe, it ought not to be difficult to find capitalists willing to anticipate the 
action of Congress by requisite advances of means whenever the govern- 
ment shall submit to them a plan or line of policy which it is prepared cordially 
to recommend to Congress and the public. 

I trust that in the documents which I have already transmitted, with those 
which accompany this communication, the government will find all the inform- 
ation it will require to fix, without delay, upon the policy it ought to pursue. 

Before closing this communication, there are one or two other features of the 
regulations to which it is my duty to invite your attention. 

By article 5th it is provided that all communication between foreign exhibitors 
and the imperial commission shall take place through the commissioners of the 
respective countries, and in no case will they hold direct communication with 
the exhibitors. For this purpose foreign commissioners, if there are many, are 
invited by article 6 to appoint a delegate, as soon as possible, to represent them 
near the imperial commission. 

These provisions are designed to meet the inconveniences which have here- 
tofore resulted from a multiplicity of commissioners, who were often exhibitors, 
and to concentrate the practical cares of managing the exhibition in the hands 
of persons specially selected for the duty, and who, by a careful study of its plan 
and familiarity with every stage of its growth, are best qualified to promote its 



16 * UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

success. These regulations also tend greatly to simplify the organization through 
which our government will have to operate. With an appropriation sufficient 
to pay such portion of the expenses of transportation as it may conclude to 
assume, and other allied expenses, (I would recommend, that it assume the 
charge of all articles at tide-water in the United States until they are returned, 
those sold during the trip to pay their own charges,) and with two commission- 
ers, one to reside in Paris and the other in New York, properly qualified for 
their duties, the official or governmental organization would be, for the present, 
and for the next eighteen months at least, complete. This subject is more fully 
developed by Mr. Beckwith in enclosure No. 6, to which, for the present, I 
content myself with inviting your attention, as presenting what seems to me 
the simplest, the most economical, the most harmonious plan of operation that I 
can imagine, and one open to fewest objections, and most certain to work suc- 
cessfully. I think it would be wise to take measures to avoid, as far as possible, 
any representation by States at this Exposition, for the imperial commission 
never know what relative value to attach to such commissioners, and the result 
of such a representation here would be, as it has always been before, that the 
whole national character of our part of the Exposition would be sacrificed to 
the interests of a few sharp-witted speculators who might chance to know best 
how to turn the inevitable confusion and disorder that would result to their own 
account. 

When the Exposition is ready to open, it will be proper for the United States 
to be represented by a very different and more numerous body of men, who, by 
their knowledge and accomplishments, are qualified to describe in popular lan- 
guage the novelties with which the Exposition may abound. It is from the 
labors of such men as these that the country ought to derive its chief advan- 
tages from such an Exposition, but such men are not apt to be qualified nor to 
have the leisure or taste for any of the labor which precedes the opening or 
which follows the closing of the exhibition. 

In France it is provided that the imperial commission shall organize in each 
department what it terms departmental committees, whose duties, among others, 
it will be to create a commission of savans, agriculturists, manufacturers, master- 
workmen, and other specialists, who should make a special study of the Expo- 
sition, and prepare and publish a report on the various applications which may 
be made in their department of the information they may gather. To meet at 
least a portion of the expense of this work, private subscriptions are authorized 
to be opened in the several departments. 

Something similar should be done by our people and government; and in the 
selection of candidates for such work, no pains should be spared to select the 
most capable from among the class of men who have enough of our own skill 
and resources to determine what is new and worthy of transplantation to the 
United States. This work will be done for the nations of Europe by their 
ablest men, for thus only are the important lessons of the Exposition to be per- 
petuated and diffused. I hope we shall not disregard their example. In 
making choice of men for this labor our academies of art and design, our agri- 
cultural societies, our mechanics' institutes, and other literary and scientific 
societies, might possibly be consulted to advantage. 

With no other apology for these somewhat perfunctory suggestions than my 
desire that our country may not only appear to advantage at the Exposition of 
1867, but that its artists and artisans may profit by the unexampled opportunity 
for instruction which it will present, I remain, sir, with great respect, 
Your very obedient servant, 

JOHN BIGELOW. 

Hon. William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 



17 



[Enclosure No. 3. — Translation of enclosure No. 2. ] 

Imperial Commission, Paris, Palace of Industry, 

Door No. 1, July 22, 1865. 

Mr. Minister : I have the honor to send you enclosed two copies of the general regula- 
tions of the Universal Exposition of 1867, adopted by the imperial commission, and which 
his Majesty the Emperor has just approved by a decree dated the 12th instant. 

I am happy to be thus enabled to place before you these definite dispositions, which will 
give in future a fixed and assured basis for the measures which you may think useful to take 
in view of preparing for the participation of the United States in this great assembly. 

I also enclose a copy of the preliminary plan, prepared by order of the imperial commis- 
sion, of the palace destined for the Exposition. 

In the provisional partition indicated in the plan which I have the honor to transmit to 
you the imperial commission has desired less to consider the distance which separates the 
United States from Europe than to keep in view the industrial and commercial power of that 
great country. They have, therefore, given to it a space of important extent, greatly supe- 
rior to that which had been reserved for it in previous Universal Expositions. 

In 1855 the surface set aside for its products was 1,097 square metres,* of which scarcely 
300 were occupied, in consequence of a lack of co-operation between the different States of 
the confederation. In 1862, upon an allotment of 843 square metres, only about a hundred 
were used. 

For the Universal Exposition of 1867 the imperial commission had proposed to reserve 
for the United States a space of 3,346 square metres. . 

The verbal information which you have been good enough to give me, Mr. Minister, has 
caused me to recognize that it was no longer possible for your government to make known 
in time whether it considered itself in position to occflpy with its products the whole of this 
space. Placed in this uncertainty the imperial commission has thought proper to restrict 
the, section assigned to the United States to a surface of 2,788t square metres, of which 
2,605 are situated in the interior galleries, and 183 in the central vestibule and the covered 
promenade. I hasten to inform you of this decision, and I seize this occasion to invite your 
attention anew to the importance of expediting the necessary decisions for the purpose 
of assuring the entire occupation of this space. You understand, Mr. Minister, how re- 
gretable it would be if a part of it should not be utilized. When once the period of the 
final allotment is passed, it will then be no longer possible to assign a portion of it to one of 
the powers which solicit an increase of space. 

Receive, Mr. Minister, the new assurance of my high consideration. 

F. LE PLAY, 
Counsellor of State, Commissioner General. 



[Document A.] 
Table recapitulating the dates assigned to the dicers operations of the Exposition. 

Dates assigned. . Nature of the operations. 

Before August 15, 1865.. Appointing committees of admission for the French 

section, and notifying the foreign commissions of the 
space granted for the productions of their country- 
men. 

Before August 25, 1865 Constituting departmental committees, inviting French 

exhibitors, and notifying them of the space allotted 
in the French section to each class of products named 
in the system of classification. (Document B.) 

Before October 31, 1865 ...Sending applications for admission and claims con- 
cerning admission of French exhibitors to the impe- 
rial commission. (Document C.) 

Before October 31, 1865 Preparing and sending to the imperial commission, by 

the foreign commissioners, the plan of organization 
of their countrymen, drawn on a scale of m .002 to 
the metre. 

Before December 33 , 1865 Preparing detailed plans of arrangements on a scale of 

in .020 to the metre for the French section ; notify- 
ing French exhibitors of their admission. 



* A metre is 39 37-100 inches. 



t About thirty thousand square feet. 



18 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

Before January 33 , 1 866 Preparing and sending by the foreign commissions the 

detailed plan of arrangements of their countrymen, 
on a scale of m .020 to the metre, and of information 
intended for the official catalogue. 

Before December 1, 18QQ Finishing the palace and the buildings in the park. 

Before January 3, 3867 Notifying French artists of their admission. 

Before January 15, 3867 Finishing the special arrangements for exhibitors in the 

palace and in the park. 

Before March 6, 18i>7 Admission of foreign products at the seaports and fron- 
tier towns indicated in article 44 of the general reg- 
ulations, • with permission for them to be forwarded 
to the Exposition, which shall be used as an actual 
custom-house depot. 

From January 35 to March 10, 1867.. Receiving and unpacking goods in the Exposition. 

From March .1 1 to March 28, 3 867 Arranging the goods unpacked in the spaces ascribed 

for them. 

March 29 and 30, 3867 . . General cleaning of all parts of the palace and park. 

March 33, 3867... Inspection of the whole Exposition. 

April 3 , 1867 Opening of the Exposition. 

October 33,3 867 Closing of the Exposition. 

November 1 to November 30, 3867.. .Removal of goods and of fixtures. 



[Buclosure No. 5 to despatch No. 151.] 

UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION OF 3^67, IN PARIS.— IMPERIAL COMMISSION.— 
GENERAL REGULATIONS, JULY 7, 1865. 

To which are added : 

3st. A table recapitulating the dates assigned to the diverse operations of the Exposition . 
2d. The system of classification of the products exposed. 

3d. The form of the application for admission which shall be filled by every French pro- 
ducer intending to exhibit. 



[Enclosure No. C. ] 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION OF 3867, IN PARIS.— IMPERIAL COMMISSION.— 
GENERAL REGULATIONS ENACTED JULY 7, 3865.— APPROVED BY AN IM- 
PERIAL DECREE JULY 32, 3865. 

First Section. 

General disposition and system of classification. 

Article 1. The Universal Exposition held in Paris in the year 1867 shall receive works of 
art and the products of the industry and agriculture of all nations. 

It shall be held in a temporary building erected in the Champs de Mars. Around the Ex- 
position building shall be a park, intended to receive live animals and plants, and also suck 
buildings and objects as could not be placed in the main building. 

The Exposition shall be opened on the 1st day of April, 1867, and shall close on tho 33 st 
day of October of the same year. 

Art. 2. The Universal Exposition of 1867 is placed under the direction of the imperial 
commission, appointed by a decree dated February 3, 3865. 

The general commission named in the same decree is appointed to carry out the measures 
adopted by the imperial commission. 

Art. 3. The imperial commission shall, prior to August 25, 1835,* organize in every depart- 
ment of the French empire a departmental committee, whose duty it shall be — 

1st. To spread throughout the department the knowledge of the dispositions adopted con- 
cerning the Exposition, and to distribute blank forms of applications for space, as also all the 
other documents published by the imperial commission. 

2d. To point out, prior to October 31, 1865, the leading artists, agriculturists, and manufac- 
turers, whose participation in the Universal Exposition would particularly enhance the suc- 
cess of that undertaking. 

*For the order of the dates herein mentioned, see the table A accompanying the present regulations. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 19 

3d. To promote, as is said in Article 29, the exhibiting of the agricultural productions of the 
department. 

4th. To organize a commission of savans, farmers, manufacturers, foremen, and other com- 
petent persons, to study particularly the results of the Universal Exposition, and to publish a 
report on the applications which could be made in the department of the teachings derived 
from it. 

5th. To prepare the way for collecting, by means of subscriptions, donations, or otherwise, 
a fund destined to furnish to foremen, agriculturists, and working-men of the department the 
means of visiting and studying the Universal Exposition, as also to cover the expenses of pub- 
lishing the above-mentioned report of the commission. 

ART. 4. The imperial commission shall consult with the ministers ©f war and of marine to 
insure the participation of Algeria and the French colonies in the Universal Exposition. 

Art. 5. The commissions appointed by the divers foreign governments to organize the par- 
ticipation of the natives of those countries in the Universal Exposition shall correspond di- 
rectly with the imperial commission concerning the exhibition of works of art and other pro- 
ductions of their country. Hence the imperial commission shall hold no direct intercourse 
with foreign exhibitors. 

No product presented by a foreigner can be admitted into the Exposition but through the 
intervention of the foreign commission, to which the exhibitor is subject as such. 

The foreign commissioners shall, moreover, organize the transportation, reception, arrange- 
ment, and re-exportation of the goods of their countrymen as they may think best, conform- 
ing, however, to the measures of order prescribed by the imperial commission. 

Art. 6. Foreign commissioners are invited to enter as soon as possible into relations with 
the imperial commission, and to appoint a representative to it. This representative shall be 
instructed to settle such questions as interest foreign exhibitors, namely, such as relate to the 
division of the total space, among the diverse nations, and the mode of arrangement of each 
national section in the palace of the Exposition and in the park. 

' Art. 7. In order to facilitate the subdivision of the space allotted to each country between 
the various classes of products indicated in Article 11, the imperial commission will distribute 
to the delegates, for their information, the plan of organization adopted for the French section 
of the palace of the Exposition, drawn on a scale of m .002 to the metre. This plan shows 
the disposition of the show-cases or tables intended for each class of products, as also the form, 
height, and other dimensions of the halls devoted to each class. 

A similar plan, showing the subdivisions of the part of the palace of the Exposition as- 
signed to each nation, shall be handed to the imperial commission by each foreign commission 
prior to October 31, 1865. « 

Detailed plans, on the scale of O ra .O20 to the metre, showing the place assigned to each 
exhibitor and each individual mode of exhibiting, together with a list of the exhibitors, shall 
also be transmitted by each foreign commission prior to January 31, 18G5, in order that the 
imperial commission may regulate the interior partitions of the building in accordance with the 
requirements of each nation. 

Art. 8. Each nation can claim, as its special park, that part of the Champs de Mars ad- 
joining the space allotted to it in the palace of the Exposition. 

The delegates of all foreign commissions shall consult with the General Commissioner, to 
determine the plan of the roads and earthworks, to be executed at the expense and under 
the supervision of the imperial commission. 

Every delegate shall also consult with the general commissioner, with a view to leave at 
the disposal of the imperial commission such portions of space as may exceed the wants of 
his countrymen, or to obtain supplementary space for them in such portions as have been 
surrendered by the delegates of other nations. 

In order to facilitate as. much a3 possible the arrangements of foreign exhibitors in the 
portions of the park ascribed to them, the imperial commission shall deliver to the delegates, 
for their information, the plans adopted by French exhibitors for exhibiting animals, plants, 
specimens of houses, &c. (See document B.) 

Art. 9. An official catalogue of the products of all nations shall be published, indicating 
the place they .occupy in the palace of the exhibition or in the park. This catalogue shall 
contain two alphabetical tables; one giving, the names of the exhibitors, the other of the 
objects exhibited. Foreign commissioners are invited to forward the information requisito 
for making this catalogue before January 31, 1866. 

Art. 10. Such countries as may be represented in the Paris Exposition of 1867 only by a 
few exhibitors, and who are geographically neighbors, are invited to join together, in order 
to secure a methodical grouping of similar productions. 

The imperial commission has prepared, for the use of the delegates of those countries, plans 
contrived with a view to conciliate the advantages of such grouping with the fundamental 
principle of national representation. 

The imperial commission invites, also, the commissioners of those countries, should they 
approve of these plans, to organize, for each group in Paris, a sub-committee, especially ap- 
pointed to carry them out. The architects and employes of the imperial commission shall bo 
placed at the orders of such sub-committees, without remuneration. 



20 • UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

Art. 11. In each section assigned to exhibitors of the same nation the objects exhibited'; 
shall be divided into ten groups and into ninety-five classes, namely: 
Group 1. Works of art. (Classes 1 to 5.) 

Group 2. Materials and applications of the liberal arts. (Classes 6 to 13.) 
Group 3. Furniture and other household articles. (Classes 14 to 26.) 
Group 4. Clothing, including cloths, and other wearing apparel. (Classes 27 to 39.) 
Group 5. Mining, rough and wrought products. (Classes 40 to 46.) 
Group 6. Instruments and processes of the mechanical arts. (Classes 47 to 66.) 
Group 7. Food, fresh and preserved, in its various states. (Classes 67 to 73.) 
Group 8. Live agricultural products and specimens. (Classes 74 to 82.) 
Group 9. Natural horticultural products and specimens. (Classes 83 to 88.) 
Group 10. Objects especially exhibited for the purpose of improving the physical and 
moral condition of the population. (Classes 89 to 95.) 

The objects belonging to each group are fully indicated in the system of classification an- 
nexed to the present regulations. (See document B.) 

The imperial commission, in order to profit by the observations which may be addressed 
to it by French exhibitors and foreign commissioners, reserves to itself the right of explaining, 
in subsequent editions of this document, such points as the present wording may have left 
obscure. 

Art. 12. No work of art, nor any other production exhibited in the palace of the exposition 
or in the park, shall be drawn, copied, or reproduced in any way whatsoever, without a per- 
mit of the exhibitor to whom it belongs. The imperial commission reserves the right of 
authorizing the reproduction of general views of the Exposition. 

Art. 13, No work of art. nor any other production exhibited, can be removed before the 
close of the Exposition, without a special permit from the imperial commission. 

Art. 14. No rent shall be charged to exhibitors, whether French or foreign, for the space 
they occupy ; but all the expenses for fitting up and decorating the same, either in the palace 
of the Exposition or the park, shall be paid by them. 

Art. 15. Frenchmen and foreigners, in becoming exhibitors, do thereby engage to submit 
to the present regulations. 

Art. 16. The imperial commission corresponds with the prefects and other authorities of 
the French empire, through its president or the general commissioner. 

Art. 17. All communications relating to the Exposition should be addressed, & M. le Con- 
seiller d : Etat, Uommissaire General tie V Exposition Universelle de 1867, a Paris. 
Prepayment is not required within the limits of the French postal service. 

Second Section. 

Special dispositions concerning tcorks of art. 

Art. 18. Are admissible to the Exposition: The works of French and foreign artists 
executed since January 1, 1855. 
Art. 19. Are excluded : 

1st. All copies, even though reproducing a work in a style differing from the original, 
2d. Unframed oil, w x ater-color, pastel, and miniature paintings and drawings, or 

cartoons of stained glass or of frescoes. 
3d. Works of sculpture of unbaked clay. 
Art. 20. The imperial commission, aided by a special jury, shall decide on the admission 
of the works of Fiench artists. 

The manner in which this jury shall be named and composed, as also the forms to be 
observed by Frenchmen desiring the admission of a work of art to the Exposition, shall be 
establisht-d in future regulations, which will indicate, at the same time, the manner in which 
works of art shall be forwarded and received. 

ART. 21. The imperial commission shall inform the parties concerned, before the 1st of 
January, 1867, of its decisions concerning applications for admission of works of art. 

Art. 22. The number and nature of the prizes awarded to works of art shall be established 
hereafter; as also the organization of the international jury appointed to judge them. 

Third Section. 

Special dispositions concerning the productions of agriculture and industry. 
§ 1. — Admission and classification of objects. 

Art. 23. Are admissible to the Exposition: All productions of agriculture and industry.. 
with the exceptions and under the provisions mentioned in the following article: 

Art. 24. Are excluded : All explosive, fulminating, or other substances considered dan 
gerous. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 21 

Spirits or alcohols, essences, essential oils, corroding substances, and generally all sub- 
stances susceptible of injuring other productions exhibited, or of proving inconvenient to the 
public, shall be admitted only in strong suitable packages of small capacity. 

Of percussion caps, fireworks, matches, and similar objects, imitations only, containing 
mo inflammable substances, shall be admitted. 

Art. 25. Exhibitors of troublesome or unhealthy objects shall, at all times, conform to the 
measures of safety prescribed to them. 

The imperial commission reserves the right of ordering the removal, at any time, of goods, 
from whatever source, which may, from their nature or their bulk, appjear hurtful or unsuited 
to the object of the Exposition. 

Art. 26. The imperial commission shall, prior to August 15, 1865, inform the foreign com- 
missions of the extent of space allowed to each nation in which to exhibit their productions. 

Before August 15, 1865, the imperial commission shall publish a table of the space attrib- 
uted in the French section to each of the first seventy-three classes mentioned in article 11. 

Art. 27. After this table shall be published, the French manufacturers whose productions 
are included in the same class are invited to consult together, and to contiive a plan of 
organization of the space allowed to their class. When they have agreed on the choice of 
the exhibitors to be admitted to that space, and on the portion of it to be allowed to each of 
them, they shall appoint one or more delegates, who shall obtain from the imperial commis- 
sion the requisite information, submit to it their plan and their list of exhibitors, and, in gen- 
eral, represent the common interests of these before the imperial commission. 

Art. 28. In the absence of spontaneous action, such as is provided for by the preceding 
article, the municipal authorities of the manufacturing districts, the chambers of commerce, 
of arts and manufactures, and the artistic, industrial, and agricultural societies, are invited 
to promote the concerted action of the people of their districts. 

Art. 29. The committees of the departments (Art. 3) shall receive from the imperial com- 
mission, and shall communicate to the chambers of agriculture and to the agricultural socie- 
ties of their department, the plans adopted for representing the agriculture of the various 
districts of France, in order that they may assist in carrying out these plans. They shall 
particularly invite those societies to organize collective exhibitions of the various types of 
animals and plants, and of rural and agricultural establishments. 

The committees of the departments forming large agricultural districts shall communicate 
with each other as much as possible, in order to represent, without the use of duplicates, the 
leading features of the agriculture of the district. 

Art. 30. The applications for admission, referring to the arrangements contemplated in 
Articles 27, 23, and 29, shall be made by the delegates of the parties concerned who have 
agreed among themselves, or by those bodies or societies who may have taken the initiative in 
it. For this purpose, the delegates shall cause every exhibitor to fill up and sign two copies 
of the form of application for admission, annexed to the present regulations. (See document 
C) They shall address these applications to the general commissioner, at Paris. — (Art. 17.) 

Art. 31. Every plan of organization, prepared either through the spontaneous accord of 
■exhibitors of the same class, or through the influence of the municipal authorities, chambers 
of commerce, artistic, industrial, or agricultural societies, shall be adopted by the imperial 
commission, if no protest is made against it, and if, moreover, it conforms to the general 
requisitions of the Exposition. 

Art. 32. The exhibitions thus jointly planned shali be devided into individual and distinct 
apartments, unless all the parties concerned should choose to make of it an exhibition uniting 
without designating the contributors, the productions of a locality, or of a district. 

Art. 33. In the case of exhibitions made in the manner referred to in Articles 27, 28, and 
29, such exhibitors as may have any claims or protests to present shall apply directly to the 
general commissioner, who shall refer the matter to the decision of the imperial commission. 

Art. 34, In cases where the joint action contemplated in Articles 27, 28, and 29, does not 
take place, exhibitors shall individually fill up and sign two copies- of the application for 
admission, (Art. 30,). to be addressed to the general commissioner at Paris. — (Art. 17.) 

ART. 35. Applications for admission, claims, and all documents relating to them, shall be 
sent to Paris before October 31, 1865. 

After that date no application or claim shall be received unless by special action of the 
^imperial commission. 

ART. 36. Manufacturers of machinery requiring the use of water, gas, or steam, shall 
state, in making their applications for admission, the quantity of water, gas, or steam which 
they require. Those who intend setting their machinery in motion shall state the speed»at 
which each machine is run, and the motive power required. 

Art. 37. Committees of admission appointed by the imperial commission for each of the 
nine groups of agricultural and industrial productions (Art. 11) shall express their opinion on 
individual applications for admission, and on the claims or protests mentioned in Article 33. 

The imperial commission alone decides on the admission of exhibitors. 

Art. 38. Each French exhibitor shall receive before December 31, 1865, an exhibitor s 
ticket, bearing his number in the Exposition, the dimensions of the space allotted to him, 
.and the address which he is to put on every parcel forwarded byhim. 



22 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

§ 2.-— Conveyance, arrival, and locution of goods in the palace and the park. 

Art. 39. The packing and transportation of goods exhibited to and from the Exposition 
shall be at the expense of the exhibitors. 
Art. 40. Packages of French origin containing goods intended for the Exposition shall be 

marked with the two letters E. U. surrounded by a circle, thiv*, (E.U.) They shall also 

bear the number of the exhibitor and the address of the Exposition as given on the exhibitor's 
ticket. (Art. 38.) . 

The bill of lading accompanying each invoice shall also give the exhibitor's name and 
number, and the above address. 

The party sending the goods shall affix to two sides of each package one of the labels sent 
for that purpose by the imperial commission. 

Art. 41. The imperial commission shall abstain from any interference between the ex- 
hibitors and tlie transportation agents, either as regards the conveying or the reception of 
goods. 

Exhibitors shall, therefore, provide, either personally or through their agents, for the con- 
veyance of their goods, as also for their reception and the identification of the contents of their 
cases. 

If the exhibitor or his agent be not present to receive the goods when they arrive at the 
Exposition, the carrier shall have to remove them immediately. 

Art. 42. Goods from other countries shall bear a mark plainly indicating their origin. 
The imperial commission shall consult with the foreign commissioners, in order that the 
conveyance of these goods may take place according to the regulations prescribed in Arti- 
cle 40 for French goods. On this point, however, foreign commissioners shall adopt such 
measures as they may think best. 

Art. 43. Goods, whether French or foreign, shall be admitted into the Exposition from 
January 15, 1867, to March 10, 1887, inclusive. 

These dates may, by special decisions, be either anticipated for some goods difficult to lo- 
cate, or prolonged for objects of great value. 

Art. 44. The interior of the Exposition shall constitute an actual custom-house depot. 

Foreign goods intended for the Exposition shall be received as such until the 5th of March, 
1867, at the following seaport and frontier towns : 

Dunkirk, Lille, Valenciennes, Feignies, Jeumont, Vireux, Givet, Longwy, Thionville, 
Forbach, Wissembourg, Strasbourg, St. Louis, Pontarlier, Bellegarde, St. Michel, Nice, 
Marseilles, Cette, LePerthus, Hen day e, Bayonne, Bordeaux, Nantes, St. Nazaire, Gran- 
ville, Havre, Dieppe, Rouen, Boulogne, Calais. 

Art. 45. The imperial commission shall state, in special instructions, the time when the 
materials for building, forming part of the objects exhibited, machinery, apparatus takon 
apart, heavy or cumbrous objects, or such as require special masonry work or foundations, 
shall be brought to the Exposition. 

These works of construction and location shall be executed by the exhibitors and at their 
expense, from plans submitted by them to the approval of the imperial commission. 

Art. 46. The imperial commission furnishes gratuitously the water, gas, steam, and mo- 
tive power for machinery forming the object of the declaration mentioned in Article 36. 
This power is generally transmitted by a horizontal shaft, the diameter and number of revo- 
lutions per minute of which the imperial commission shall make known before December 
31, 1865. 

Exhibitors shall provide the pulley on the shaft, the pulleys transmitting the motion, the 
intermediate shaft regulating the speed for the machine, and all the belts requisite for these 
transmissions. 

Steam-engines which are to raise their own steam cannot be exhibited within the building, 
and shall be the object of special instructions. 

ART. 47. All other expenses, such as those for the management of goods in the Exposi- 
tion, receiving and opening packages, removing and storing boxes and wrappings, building 
tables, shelves and show-cases, placing the goods in the palace or in the park, decorating the 
space occupied, and sending back the goods exhibited, shall be met by the exhibitors, both 
French and foreign. 

Art. 48. The arranging and decorating of exhibitions in the French section, both in the 
palace and in the park, shall only be executed in conforming to the general plan and under 
the inspection of agents of the imperial commission. 

Exhibitors desiring it shall be referred by the imperial commission to contractors for the™ 
execution of their orders and the management of their goods; but the exhibitors shall be free 
to employ such contractors or workmen as they may choose. 

Art. 49. The divers exhibitors may take their place in the palace as the construction ad- 
vances. The arrangements shall be commenced, at the latest, on the first day of December, 
1866, and shall be ready to receive the goods before the 15th of January, 1867. 

Art. 50. The space reserved aside from that intended for the exhibition of goods being 
strictly calculated to meet the Avants of circulation, no packages or empty boxes shall be 
permitted to cumber it. Consequently all boxes and cases are to be opened as they arrive- 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 23 

The imperial commission shall proceed at once, at the expense and risk of the exhibitors, to 
open cases left by them in the passages. 

Goods already unpacked shall be arranged and disposed in the Exposition between the 
11th and 28th of March, 1867. The 29th and 30th are reserved for a general clearing. The 
whole Exposition shall be reviewed on the 31st of March. 

The imperial commission shall take all necessary measures to have the Exposition com- 
plete in all its parts by the 28th of March. It shall consequently dispose of any space which 
by the 14th of January, 1867, shall not be occupied by a lot of goods ready to be an'anged, 
er of any space which by the 10th of March shall not show a sufficient quantity of products. 

Art. 51. Immediately after unpacking, the boxes which have served for the transporta- 
tion of goods from all sources shall be removed by the exhibitors or their agents. In case 
they do not provide for this at once, the imperial commission shall cause the boxes and 
packages to be removed, without assuming any responsibility for their preservation. 

Art. 52. Special instructions shall be published hereafter concerning the organization and 
arrangement of such goods and products exhibited as are to be placed in the park. 

§ 3. — Administration and police. 

Art. 53. The goods are to be exhibited under the name of the producer. They may, 
however, with his consent, bear also the name of the dealer acting usually as agent for then- 
sale. 

The imperial commission may, in case ot need, agree with dealers to have goods exhib- 
ited in their name in the Exposition when they are not exhibited by the producer. 

Art. 54. Exhibitors are invited to write after their names, or that of their firms, the names 
of those having had a special part in the production of the objects exhibited as inventors, 
designers of models, mechanical processes, or by their exceptional skill as workmen. 

Art. 55. The cash price and place of sale may be affixed to objects exhibited. This indi- 
cation is required for all objects belonging to class ninety-one. In all classes the prices 
marked shall be binding for the exhibitor; any deviation from this rule shall exclude the ex- 
hibitor from competing for the prizes. 

Objects sold cannot be removed before the close of the Exposition without a special per- 
mit of the imperial commission. 

Art. 56. The imperial commission shall take all necessary measures to guard the goods 
exhibited from receiving any damage ; but it shall in no way be responsible for accidents by 
fire or otherwise, whatever may be their cause or the extent of the damage. It leaves the 
exhibitors free to insure their goods directly and at their own expense, if they see fit to take 
that measure. 

Art 57. Special regulations, posted up in the palace and in the park, shall indicate the 
order of the interior service. They shall also indicate the agents appointed to assist exhibitors 
and to watch over the safety of the Exposition. 

Art. 58. A free ticket admitting them to the Exposition shall be delivered to every ex 
hibitor. These tickets are personal. It shall be withdrawn if it is found to have been lent or 
given to another person, and the exhibitor will be liable to be prosecuted. To regulate this 
portion of the service, the tickets shall be signed by the exhibitors. These shall enter 
by stated doors, and may be required to prove their identity by signing a register. 

Art. 59. Exhibitors shall be at liberty to have their goods guarded by agents of their 
choice, who shall, however, have been accepted by the imperial commission. 

Personal tickets of admission shall be delivered gratis to such agents, subject to the regu- 
lations contained in the preceding article. * 

Any person acting as agent for exhibitors can receive but one of these tickets, whatever 
number of exhibitors he may represent. 

Art. 60. Exhibitors and their agents shall refrain from inviting visitors to make pur- 
chases ; they shall only answer questions addressed to them, and hand card, handbill, or 
price list, when asked. 

Art. 61 . The imperial commission shall settle hereafter the price to be paid by visitors for 
admission into the Exposition. 

Art. 62. An international jury, divided into nine groups, corresponding to the nine groups 
of agricultural and industrial productions named in the system of classification, (Article 11 
and document B,) shall be appointed to award the prizes. 

Future regulations shall determine the number, the nature, and the degrees of the prizes 
awarded, as also the composition and the powers of the jury appointed to award them. 

Art. 63. Studies and experiments shall be made under the supervision of the members of t 
the jury of the prizes, and of a scientific, agricultural, and industrial commission, appointed 
by the imperial commission. Such results of these experiments as may be of interest for the 
public shall be published. 

Art. 64. Conferences and demonstrations may take place in the different parts of the Ex- 
position. Lectures may also be delivered in a hall constructed for that purpose. All these, 
however, shall only take place by special and personal authorization delivered by the impe- 
rial commission. 



24 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

§ 4. — Closing of the Exposition and removal of the goods. 

ART. 65, Immediately after the closing of the Exposition, exhibitors shall proceed to pack 
ing up and removing their goods and fixtures. 

This removal shall be completed before November 30, 1867. 

After that date all goods, packages, or fixtures, not removed by the exhibitors or their 
agents, shall be removed by order of the imperial commission to a public storehouse, at the 
risk and expense of the exhibitors. Objects not taken from that storehouse by the 30th of 
June, 1868, shall then be sold at public sale, and the proceeds shall be applied to some object 
of benevolence. 

Done and enacted by the imperial commission, July 7, 1864. v 

The Minister of State, Vice-President, 

ROUHER. 
Seen and annexed to the decree of July 12, 1865. 

The Minister of State acting ad interim as Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Public 
Works, 

ROUHER. 
The Secretary of the Imperial Commission, 

DE CHANCOURTOIS. 
For ampliation : The Councillor of State, General Commissioner, 

F. LE PLAY. 

SECTION B.— SYSTEM OF CLASSIFICATION. 

First Group. — Works of Art. 

Class 1, (Palace Gallery 1.) — Paintings in oil. — Paintings on canvas, on panels, on 
glazing, and other surfaces. 

Class 2, (Palace Gallery 1.) — Various paintings and designs. — Miniatures, aquarelles, 
pastels, and designs of all kinds ; paintings on enamel, on crockery, or porce- 
lain ; cartoons, for frescoes and for glass windows. 

Class 3, (Palace Gallery 1.) — Sculptures and engravings on medals. — Spherical, embossing, 
sculptured bas-reliefs, ■ sculptures reponsees, pressed and chiselled, medals, 
cameos, engraved stones, chemical engravings. 

Class 4, (Palace Gallery L) — Designs and models of architecture. — Studies and fragments, 
representations and projects of edifices, restorations from ruins and from docu- 
ments. 

Class 5, (Palace Gallery 1.) — Engravings and lithographs. — Engravings (black) on copper, 
wood, stone, &c. ; engravings in. several colors ; lithographs, in black, in crayon, 
in pencil, and in colors. 

Second Group, (Palace Gallery 2.) — Materials and their applications in the lib 

ERAL ARTS. 

Class 6. — Specimeris of printing and publishing. — Specimens of typography ; proof-sheets 
of autography and lithography, in black and in colors ; proof-sheets of engrav- 
ings ; new books and new editions of books already known ; collections of 
works forming libraries on special, subjects ; periodical publications ; designs ; 
technical and school atlases and albums. 

Class 7, (Palace Gallery 2. ) — Specimens of stationery, of book-binding, and of materials 
used in painting and designing. — Papers, cards, pasteboards, inks, chalks, 
pencils, pastels, furniture of Avriting-desks, inkstands, letter balances, copy- 
presses, &c. ; registers, copy-books, albums, note-books, instrument cases, 
bands, elastic bands ; various articles for water-colors, aquarelles, colors in 
cakes, in bladders, in tubes, and in shells ; instruments used by painters, de- 
signers, gravers, and modellers ; specimens of paper work, lamp-shades, lan- 
terns, flower-pots, &c. 

Class 8, (Palace Gallery 2.) — Specimens of design and plastic moulding applied in the 
ordinary arts. — Industrial designs ; designs obtained, reproduced, or reduced, 
by mechanical means ; decorative paintings ; industrial lithographs or engrav- 
ings; models and rough sketches of figures, ornaments, &c; sculptured work, 
cameos, lockets, and various objects ornamented by engraving; industrial 
medals, moulded by machines ; redactions and photographs ; sculptures ; various 
objects moulded. f 

Class 9, (Palace Gallery 2.) — Proofs and apparatus of photography. — Photography on 
paper, glass, wood, stuffs, enamel ; heiiographic engravings, lithographic proofs, 
photographic stereotypes, stereoscopes and stereoscopic proofs ; specimens ob- 
tained by amplification ; instruments, tools, and materials for photography 
materials and apparatus for photographic workshops. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 25 

CLASS 10, (Palace Gallery 2.) — Instruments of music. — Wind instruments, not metallic, with 
simple opening's, with windpipes, with reeds, with or without reservoirs of air; 
metallic wind instruments, simple, with extensions, slides, pistons, keys, key- 
boards ; wind instruments with key-boards, organs, ace ordeons; instruments 
with cords for" compression, or for the bow, without key-boards ; instruments 
with cords and key-boards, pianos, &c. ; instruments for percussion or friction ; 
automatic, instruments, organs of Barbary, serinettes, &c. ; detached pieces and 
apparatus for orchestras. 
Class 11, (Palace Gallery 2.) — Apparatus and instruments of the medical art. — Materials and 
instruments for dressing wounds, sores, and for inferior surgery ; instruments 
for medical explorations ; materials and instruments for surgery ; trusses and 
cases of instruments ; cases of medicaments intended especially for army sur- 
geons, navy surgeons, veterinary surgeons, dentists, oculists, &c. ; apparatus 
for restoring sensation, general or local; apparatus (mechanical or plastic) de 
prothese, (the substitution of parts or members ;) apparatus for deformities, 
ruptures, &c. ; various apparatus for the sick, infirm, deranged ; accessory 
objects used in the medical and surgical service, in pharmaceutics, and in hos- 
pitals and infirmaries. 

Materials for anatomical reseai'ckes ; apparatus for researches in medico-legal prac- 
tice; special materials for veterinary medical fracture; apparatus for baths, 
medical baths, &c. ; apparatus for the physical exercise of children, for health- 
ful and for medical gymnastics, &c. ; apparatus for aid to the wounded on the 
field of battle, ambulances, civil and military, for armies on land and at sea. 

Apparatus for aid to the drowning, suffocating, fainting, &c, and for electro- 
therapic. 
CLASS 12. ^Instruments of precision, and apparatus for instruction in science. — Instruments 
used in practical geometry, compasses, micrometers, levels, micromatic lenses, 
calculating machines, &c. 

Apparatus and instruments for surveying, for topography, for land measure, for 
astronomy, &c. ; apparatus for various observations ; apparatus and instru- 
ments of the arts of precision, weights and measures of different countries, 
moneys, medals, &c. ; balances ; instruments for physical observations, 
meteorology, &c. ; optical instruments ; apparatus for instruction in physical 
science, in elementary geometry, descriptive geometry, solids and mechanics. 

Models and instruments for instruction in the industrial arts in general ; collections 
for instruction in natural sciences ; figures and models for instruction in medical 
science, flexible anatomical models, &c. 
CLASS 13, (Palace Gallery 2.) — Geography, cosmography, apparatus, maps, charts, 8fc. — Maps 
and atlases, topographical, geographical, geological, hydrological, astronomical, 
&c. ; marine charts, physical charts of all sorts, flat and m relief; celestial and 
terrestrial globes and spheres ; apparatus for the study of cosmography. 

Statistical works, tables and ephemerides, for astronomers and mariners. 

Third Group, (Palace Gallery 3. ) — Furniture and other objects used in dwellings 

Class 14. — Rich furnishings. — Sideboards, bookcases, tables, toilettes, beds, sofas, seats, 

billiards, &c. 
Class 15, (Palace Gallery 3.) — Upholstery and decorative work. — Bedding, covered seats, 

canopies, curtains, hangings in tapestry and in stuffs ; furniture and decorative 

objects in rich stone and other valuable materials ; decorations moulded in paste, 

in plaster, in pasteboard ; decorative painting, frames, furniture ; decorative 

ornaments for religious service. 
Class 16, (Palace Gallery 3.) — Crystals, rich glassicare and glazing. — Goblets in crystal, 

cut-glass, double crystal, mounted crystal, &c. ; glass for windows, furniture 

and mirrors ; glass, figured, enamelled, crackled, filigraned ; optical crystals ; 

ornamental glass-painted windows. 
Class 17, (Palace Gallery 3.) — Porcelain, faience, and other potteries. — Biscuit, hard and 

tender porcelains ; fine earthenware, glazed and colored ; biscuit of faience, 

terre cuile, enamelled lavas. 
Class 18, (Palace Gallery 3.) — Carpets, hangings, and other furniture tissues. — Carpets, 

Wilton carpets, velvet tapestries ; carpets of felt, of cloth, of clippings of wool, 

silk, or floss silk, of mat-weed, of India-rubber ; furniture tissues of cotton, 

wool, silk, hair, vegetable leather, moleskin, leather hangings and coverings, 

oil-cloths, &c. 
Class 19, (Palace Gallery 3.) — Painted paper. — Papers printed on blocks with rollers, with 

machines, papers velveted, marbled, veined, &c, pasteboards, book-covers, &c. ; 

paper for artistic uses, spring blinds, &c, painted or printed. 
Class 20, (Palace Gallery 3.) — Cutlery. — Knives, penknives, razors, scissors, &c. 
Class 21, (Palace Gallery 3.) — Goldwork. — Goldwork, for religious service, for table use and 

ornament, for toilettes, bureaus, &c. 



26 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

CLASS 22, (Palace Gallery 3.) — Bronzes, various artistic castings, and works in metals 
repousses. — Statues and bas-reliefs in bronze, in cast-iron, in zinc ; decorative 
and ornamental bronzes ; imitations of bronze castings in zinc ; castings coated 
with metallic coverings by the galvanic process : repousses in lead, zinc, cop- 
per, &c. 

Class 23, ( Palace Gallery 3. )■>— Clocks and clockwork. — Separate pieces of clockwork ; spring 
clocks, pendulum clocks, electrical clocks, watches, chronometers, regulators, 
second counters, apparatuses for measuring time, hour-glasses, sand-glasses, 
clepsydras, &c. • 

Class 24, (Palace Gallery 3. ) — Apparatus and methods of warming and lighting.— -Fireplaces, 
chimneys, stoves, furnaces, calorifere, accessory objects ; apparatus for heating 
by gas, by hot water, by hot air ; apparatus for ventilating and for drying, 
Etuves ; enamelled lamps, blowpipes, portable forges ; lamps for oil — mineral, 
vegetable, or animal ; other accessories of lighting ; apparatus for lighting by 
gas ; photo-electrical lamps ; apparatus for lighting by magnetism. 

Class 25, (Palace Gallery 3.) — Perfumery. — Cosmetics and pomatums, perfumed oils, per- 
fumed essences, liquid extracts, scents, aromatic vinegars, almond paste, pow- 
ders, pastilles and perfumed sacks, combustible perfumes, toilette soaps. 

Class 2(5, (Palace Gallery 3.) — Fancy articles, toys, basket-work. — Small fancy articles of 
furniture, liquor cases, glove-boxes, caskets, lacker work, dressing cases, work- 
' boxes, screens, pocket-books, purses, portfolios, cigar cases, memorandums ; 
articles of checkwork ; articles turned, sculptured, engraved, of wood, of ivory, 
in shell, snuff-boxes, pipes, -combs, brushes, corbeilles, and fancy baskets ; 
basket-work, grass-Avork. 

Fourth Group, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Garments, tissues for clothing and other 

ARTICLES OF WEARING APPAREL. 

Class 27. — Yarn and tissues of cotton. — Cotton, prepared and spun; tissues of cotton, plam 
and figured ;♦ tissues of cotton, mixed ; cotton, velvets, tapes, &c. 

Class 28, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Yarn, and tissues of linen, hemp, 8;c. — Flax, hemp, and 
other vegetable fibres spun; linen and ticking; Baptiste tissues of thread, 
mixed with cotton and silk ; tissues of vegetable fibres, equivalent to linen and 
hemp. 

Class 29, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Yarn and tissues of combed wool. — Combed wools, tissues of 
combed wools, mousselines, merinoes, Scotch cashmeres, serges, &c. ; galoons 
of wool, mixed with cotton, or thread, or silk, or floss ; tissues of hair, plain and 
mixed. 

Class 30, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Yarns and tissues of carded icool. — Carded wool and yarn of 
carded wool; cloths and other tissues of wool, carded and fulled ; blankets, 
felts of wool or of hair, for carpets; hats, socks, tissues of wool carded and not 
fulled or slightly fulled, flannels, tartans, &c. 

Class 31. — Silk and tissues of silk. — Silks raw or milled, silk or floss thread or yarn, tissues 
of silk, plain and figured ; silk stuffs mixed with gold, silver, cotton or wool ; 
tissues of floss silk, pure or mixed ; velvets, plushes, ribbons of silk, pure or 
mixed. 

Class 32, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Shawls. — Shawls of wool, pure or mixed; shawls of silk and 
of cashmere. 

Class 33, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Laces, embroideries, and trimmings for clothing, military 
clothing, furniture, carriages, harness, 8{c. — Laces of thread or cotton, made 
with the lace spindle, needle, or machines ; lace of silk, wool, or of goats' hair ; 
gold or silver lace ; tulle of silk or cotton, plain or figured ; embroideries with 
the needle, the book, &c. ; embroideries in gold, in silver, in silk, in thread ; 
tapestry embroideries, and other hand-work ; trimmings of silk, floss, wool, 
goats' hair, hair, thread, and cotton; laces, military trimmings, fine and 
coarse. 

Class 34, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Hosiery, linen and other articles of clothing. — Stockings of 
cotton, thread, wool, cashmere, silk and floss, pure or mixed ; garments of linen 
for men, women, children, baby-linen ; garments of flannel and other tissues of 
wool ; corsets ; cravats ; gloves ; gaiters ; fans ; screens ; umbrellas ; parasols ; 
canes, &c. 

Class 35, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Clothing for men, women, and children. — Garments for men ; 
garments for women ; coiffures for men and women, wigs and hair- work ; boots 
and shoes ; children's clothes ; professional garments. 

Class 36, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Jewelry and precious ornaments. — Ornaments of gold, plati- 
num, silver, and aluminum, chiselled in filagree, or set with fine stones, &c. 
Diamonds ; precious stones ; pearls and imitations. 

Class 37, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Portable armor. — Defensive arms — bucklers, shields, cuiras- 
ses, casques; offensive arms — war clubs, maces, bludgeons, battle-axes, &e. ; 
foils, swords, sabres, bayonets, lances, hatchets, hunting-knives, bows, cross- 
bows, slings. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 27 

Fire-arms — muskets, carbines, pistols, revolvers ; accessory articles — powder 
flasks, bullet moulds ; projectiles, oblong, spherical, hollow, explosive ; per 
cussion caps, primings, cartridges. 

Class 38, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Articles for travelling and for encampment. — Trunks, valises 
sacks, bags, &c. ; dressing-cases, trusses, &c. ; various articles, coverings 
cushions, coiffures, costumes, shoes, walking sticks, parasols, &c. 

« Portable for travelling and scientific expeditions : photographic apparatus, instru- 

ments for meteorological and astronomical observations ; necessaries for geolo- 
gists, mineralogists, naturalists, settlers, and pioneers ; tent and camp articles ; 
military tent furniture — beds, hammocks, pliant seats, canteens, mills, 
ovens, &c. 

Class 39, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Toys and gewgaws. — Dolls aud playthings ; figures in wax ; 
plays for children and for adults ; instructive playthings. 

Fifth Group, (Palace Gallery 5.) — Products, wrought and unwrought, of ex- 
tractive INDUSTRIES. 

Class 40. — Products of mines and metallurgy. — Collections and specimens of rocks, ores, 
and minerals ; ornamental stones, marbles, serpentines, onyx, and other hard 
stones ; materials difficult of fusion ; earths and clays ; various mineral pro- 
ducts, raw sulphur, rock salt, salt from springs, bitumens, and petroleums ; 
samples of combustible, raw, and carbonized agglomerations of pit coal ; raw 
metals, pig-iron, iron, steel, copper, lead, silver, zinc, &c. ; metallic alloys ; 
products of puddlers, (and cinders,) of refiners of precious metals, of gold 
beaters, &c. 

Products of electro-metallurgy, objects coated with gold, silver, copper, steel, &c., 
by the galvanoplastic method. 

Products of the elaboration of raw metals, moulded castings, bells, iron of com- 
merce, iron for special uses, sheet-iron, tin, extra plates for constructions and 
for plating ships; sheet-copper, lead, and zinc; wrought metals, forge work, 
heavy work for gates, fences, &c. ; wheels, bandages, tubes without solder, 
chains, &c. 

Products of wire-mills, needles, pins, trellis-work, metallic tissues, perforated 
plates; hardware; edge tools; ironmongery; copper, brass, plate, and tin 
wares ; wrought metal of various kinds. 
Class 41, (Palace Gallery 5.) — Products of the forest. — Specimens of different 'species of 
wood, wood for cabinet work, and for building; fire-wood, wood for ship-work, 
for walking-sticks, fpr splintering; corks; textile barks; tanning, coloring, 
odoriferous and resinous substances ; products- of forest industry ; roasted and 
carbonized wood ; crude potash ; wood for cooperage, for basket-work, for 
sabots, for mat-work, &c. # 

Class 42, (Palace Gallery 5.) — Products of hunting and fisheries, and collections of natural 
growth. — Collections and drawings of terrestrial and amphibious animals, of 
birds, of eggs, fish, eetacea, Crustacea, mollusks. 

Products of hunting — furs, peltries, hair, fine and coarse, feathers, down, horns, 
teeth, ivory, bones, shells, musk, castoreum, and similar products. 

Products of fisheries — whale oil, spermaceti, whalebone, ambergris, shells of mol 
lusks, pearl, mother of pearl, corals, sponges, sepia, purple, See. 

Collections from natural growth — champignons; truffles; wild fruits ; lichens for 
dyeing, for food, and for fodder ; saps fermented ; Peruvian bark, useful barks 
and filaments ; wax ; resinous gums ; caoutchouc ; gutta-percha, &c. 
Class 43, (Palace Gallery 5.) — Agricultural products (not used for food) of easy preserva- 
tion. — Textile materials — raw cotton ; linen and hemp, dressed and not dressed ; 
vegetable textile fibres of all sorts ; wool in fleece ; cocoons of silk-worm. 

Products of agriculture used in manufactures, pharmacy, and domestic economy — 
oleaginous plants, oils, wax, resins, tobacco, tinder, substances for tanning 
and for tinting ; fodder and provender preserved. 
Class. 44, (Palace Gallery 5.) — Chemical and pharmaceutical products. — Acids, alkalies, salts 
of all kinds, marine salt, spring salt. 

Various chemical products — wax, soap, candles, matters for perfumery, resins, tar 
waters, essences, varnishes, coatings, waxings ; manufactures of caoutchouc, 
of gutta-percha ; substances for dyes and colors. 

Natural and artificial mineral waters — gas waters, elementary pharmaceutic sub- 
stances, simple and compound medicaments. 
Class 45, (Palace Gallery 5.) — Specimens of the chemical methods of bleaching and dyeing, of 
stamping and preparations. — Samples of yarn and tissues, dyed ; samples of 
preparations for dyeing ; linens, printed and dyed ; tissues of printed cotton, 
pure and mixed : tissues of printed woollens, pure and mixed, combed or carded ; 
tissues of printed silks, pure or mixed ; printed carpets, of felt or cloth ; linens, 
painted or waxed. 



28 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

Class 46, (Palace Gallery 5.) — Leather and skins. — Elementary matters employed in the 
preparation of skins and leather ; hides, green and salt ; leather, tanned, cur- 
ried, prepared, and dyed ; varnished leather ; morocco and sheep-skins ; Hun- 
gary leather ; chamois-skins, dressed with the hair or wool on ; preparations 
and dyes ; skins prepared for gloves ; peltry and furs prepared and dyed ; 
parchments. 
Articles of membrane work, cords for musical instruments, gold-beaters' skins, 
neves [nerves] of cattle, &c. 

Sixth Group, (Palace Gallery 8.) — Instruments and processes of common arts. 

CLASS 47. — Apparatus and methods of mining and metallurgy. — Apparatus for boring, for 
artesian wells and large wells ; machines for drilling in mines, for digging coal, 
and for quarrying stone and breaking up rocks. 

Apparatus for drawing electricity from mines. 

Models, plans, and views of works and labor in mines and quarries ; ladders for 
mines, worked by machines ; machinery for lifting from mines; machines for 
exhausting and pumping ; apparatus for airing ; ventilators, safety-lamps, &c. ; 
photo-electric lamps ; apparatus for safety parachutes ; signals. 

Apparatus for the mechanical preparation of minerals ; apparatus for the agglom- 
eration of combustibles. 

Apparatus for carbonizing combustibles ; furnaces and hearths for metals ; appa- 
ratus for consuming smoke ; machines for metallic works ; special apparatus for 
, forges and foundries ; electro-metallurgic apparatus ; apparatus for the working 

of metals in all forms. 
Class 48, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Implemcrts and processes of rural and forest work. — Plans 
of cultivation; divisions by nature of the soil; requisite manures and succes- 
sions of crops adapted to each ; materials and methods of agricultural engineer- 
ing; surface draining ; under draiuing; irrigation. 

Plans and models of rural buildings ; tools, implements, machines, and apparatus 
for preparing the ground for sowing, planting, and harvesting ; for preserving 
and preparing the products of agriculture ; carts, wagons, and apparatus for 
agricultural and rural transportation ; for training and managing horses, &c. 

Fertilizing substances, organic or mineral. 

Apparatus for the chemical and physical study of soils. 

Plans for replanting,- cultivating, and managing forests ; implements of forest 
work. 
CLASS 49, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Apparatus and instruments for hunting, fishing, and for col- 
lecting natural products. — Arms, traps, snares, machines, and equipments for 
hunting ; fish-lines, fish-hooks, harpoons, nets, apparatus and bait for fishing ; 
* apparatus and instruments for gathering products obtained without cultivation. 

Class 50, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Materials and methods of agricultural works and of alimen- 
tary industry. — Apparatus for agricultural work, making manures, making 
pipes for drainage, dairies, corn and flour trade, disposal of fecula, making 
starch, oil, brewing, distilling, making sugar, refining sugar; works for pre- 
paring textile fibres, silk-worm nurseries, &c. 

Apparatus for the preparation of food, bread-kneaders, and mechanical ovens for 
bakers ; utensils for pastry and confectionery. 

Apparatus for making dough, for sea-biscuit, for chocolate, for roasting coffee, for 
ices and sorbets, and for making ice. 
Class 51, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Chemical, pharmaceutic, and tanning apparatus. — Apparatus 
and utensils for laboratories ; apparatus and instruments for tests and experi- 
ments in industry and commerce. 

Machines and utensils used in the manufacture of chemical products, soaps, can- 
dles, &c. ; apparatus and processes for making essences, varnish, and objects 
of caoutchouc and gutta-percha. 

Machines and apparatus for gas-works; machines and methods for bleaching; 
machines and preparations of pharmaceutic products ; machines and tools for 
workshops, for tanning and dressing leather. 

Machines and apparatus for glass-works and potteries. 
Class 52, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Motors, generators, and mechanical apparatus especially 
adapted to the use's of the exhibition. — Boilers and steam generators, with safety 
apparatuses ; steam-pipes and accessory objects ; shafts, fixed and movable ; 
pulleys and belts ; means of starting and stopping, shifting and regulating the 
movements of machinery ; motors for furnishing water and the necessary mo- 
tive power in the different parts of the palace and park. 

Cranes and all sorts of apparatus proposed for the handling of packages and ob- 
jects in the palace and grounds ; rails and turn-tables proposed for use in the 
palace and park. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 29 

Class 53. (Palace Gallery 6.) — Machines and mechanical apparatus in general. — Detached 

pieces of machinery, supports, rollers, slides, eccentrics, cog-wheels, connecting 

rods, parallelograms, joints, belts, systems of ropes, &c. ; mechanism for 

changing the gear of machinery, clicks, &c. ; movement regulators and moder- 

♦ ators ; greasing apparatus. 

Indicators and registers, dynamometers, manometers, weighing apparatus, gauges, 
and apparatus for gauging liquids and gases ; machines for handling heavy ob- 
jects, hydraulic elevators, pumps, water-wheels, rams, &c, wheel and chain 
buckets for irrigation, reservoirs, wheels, wheels with vertical shaft, machines 
a colonne d'eau ; steam machinery, boilers, generators, and accessory appa- 
ratus, condensers ; machines moved by the vapor of ether, chloroform, ammo- 
niac, or by combined vapors. 
Gas-engines, air-engines, compressed air-engines; electro-magnetic motors, wind- 
mills, &c. ; aerostats. 

Class 54, (Palace Gallery 0.) — Machine tools. — Machine tools for preparatory wood-work; 
turning-lathes; planing and boring machines; mortising, piercing, and cutting 
machines; screw- cutting, nut-cutting, and riveting machines; various tools 
belonging to the yards of mechanical constructors. 
Tools, machines, and apparatus used in pressing, crushing, mixing, sawing, pol- 
ishing, &c. ; special machine tools for various uses. 

CLASS 55, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Apparatus and methods of spinning and rope-making. — Ap- 
paratus for hand- spinning; detached parts of spinning machines ; machines and 
apparatus for preparing and spinning textile matters. 
Apparatus and methods adapted to the complementary operations, such as draw- 
ing out, winding off, twisting, milling, &c. 
Apparatus for classifying and determining the condition of the threads. 
Apparatus of rope-yards, round, flat, and diminishing cables, rope and twine, wire 
cables, cables with metallic centre, fuzes, quick-matches, &c. 

Class 56, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Apparatus and methods of weaving. — Preparatory apparatus 
for weaving; machinery for warping and for bobbins ; glazing and smoothing ; 
ordinary and power looms for plain tissues and for figured tissues; loom-reeds ; 
electrical looms ; carpet and tapestry looms ; mesh looms for hosiery and tulle ; 
apparatus for making lace, for fringes and for trimmings ; looms for high warp- 
ing and methods of shuttling ; accessory apparatus, calenders, crimping, weav- 
ing, measuring, and folding machines, &.c. 

CLASS 57, (Palace Gallery 6. ) — Apparatus and processes of sewing and making clothes. — 
Ordinary instruments for cutting, and sewing, and making; machines for sew- 
ing, quilting, and embroidering; tools for cutting up stuffs and leather for 
clothes, shoes, &c. ; machines for screwing, nailing, and making shoes and 
boots. 

Class 58, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Apparatus and methods of making furniture and household 
objects. — Machines for veneering ; saws for cutting in profile, &c. ; machines 
for mouldings and frames, for ornamental floor-work and furniture-work, &c. ; 
turning-lathes, and various apparatus for joiners' and cabinet-makers' shops ; 
machines for pressing and stamping ; machines and apparatus for working in 
stucco, in pas-teboard, in ivory, in bone, in horn ; machines for pointing, sculp- 
turing, and reducing statues, and for engraving and chasing. 
Machines for sawing and polishing hard stones, marble, &c. 

CLASS 59, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Apparatus and methods of paper -mo king, coloring, and 
stamping. — Apparatus fur stamping paper, colors, and tissues ; machines for en- 
graving cylinders ; apparatus for bleaching, coloring, preparing paper and tis- 
sues ; apparatus for making paper in vats and by machines ; apparatus for crimp- 
ing, ruling, glazing, and pressing paper ; machines for cutting, paring, and 
stamping paper, &c. : apparatus and materials for letter-casting, stereotyping, 
&c. 
Machines and apparatus employed in stereotyping, mezzotinting, autography, 
lithography, chalcography, paniconography, chromo-lithography, &c ; print- 
ing of postage-stamps ; machines for composing and for classifying letters. 

Class 60, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Machinery, instruments, and methods used in various 
works. — Machinery for stamping money, for making buttons, pens, pins, en- 
velopes, brushes, cards, capsules, for loading merchandise, and for corking and 
capping bottles. 
Tools and methods of making lock-works, toys, ornamental boxes, baskets, &c. 

Class 61, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Carriage and cart work. — Separate pieces of carriage and 
cart work, wheels, bands, axles, wheel-boxes, tires, &c, springs, and various 
methods of suspension, systems of tackling and breaks ; specimens of carts and 
vehicles for special uses, public carriages, private carriages, state carriages, 
hand carriages, litters, sleighs, and velocipedes. 



30 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

Class 62, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Harness-work and saddlery. — Articles of harness-work 
buckles, ornaments, &c. 

Saddles, donkey saddles, cacolet ; harness and bridles for riding ; harness for 
draught, stirrups, spurs, whips, &c. 
Class G3, (Palace Gallery 6. ) — Materials for railroads and cars. — Separate pieces, springs, 
buffers, breaks, &c. 

Fixed materials, rails, chairs, splices, switches, turn-tables, fenders, watering 
cranes, reservoirs, signals for sight and sound ; rolling materials, wagons for 
earthwork, for merchandise, for cattle, for travellers. 

Locomotives, fenders, &c. ; machinery and tools of workshops, for repairs and re- 
constructions. 

Material and machines for inclined planes, and self-working inclines. 

Material and machines for atmospheric railways; models of machinery ; systems 
of traction, apparatus applicable to iron roads ; models, plans, and drawings of 
termini, stations, sheds, and out-houses, necessary to railways. 
CLASS 64, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Apparatus and methods of telegraphing. — Telegraphic appa- 
ratus, based on the transmission of light, sound, &c. 

Apparatus of the electrical telegraph, supports, conductors, tighteners, electrical 
batteries ; apparatus for sending and receiving despatches, bells, and electrical 
signals, accessory objects for the service ; lightning-rods, commutators, pre- 
pared papers for printing, and autographic transmissions ; special apparatus for 
submarine telegraphs. 
CLASS 65, (Palace Gallery 0. ) — Materials and methods adapted to civil engineering, public 
works, and architecture. — Materials for building, wood, metals, ornamental 
stones, lime, mortar, cements, artificial stone, beton, tiles, brick, slate, paste- 
board, and felt, for roofing. 

Materials and specimens of preserved wood, apparatus and methods of testing ma- 
terials ; materials of works for embankments, excavating machines ; apparatus 
for stonecutters' yards ; tools and methods for draughtsmen, stonecutters, ma- 
sons, carpenters, roofers, tilers, slaters, locksmiths, joiners, glaziers, plumbers, 
house-painters, &c. 

Ornamental iron-work, locks, padlocks, railings, balconies, banisters, &c. 

Materials and machines for foundation work, pile-drivers, piles, screw-posts, pumps, 
pneumatic apparatus, dredging machines, &c. ; machines for hydraulic work, 
seaports, canals, rivers, &c. ; materials and apparatus used in water-works and 
gas-works ; materials for repairing roads, plantations, and public works. 

Models, plans, and drawings of public works, bridges, viaducts, aqueducts, sew- 
ers, canal bridges, &c. 

Light-houses, public monuments for special purposes, private buildings, hotels, 
and houses to let, workmen's residences, &c. 
CLASS 60, (Palace Gallery 6.) — Navigation and salvage. — Drawings and models of ships, 
docks, floating docks, &c. 

Drawings and models of all kinds of vessels for river and maritime navigation ; 
types and models adopted by the navy ; apparatus employed in navigation ; boats 
and various craft ; ship-chandlery; flags, signals, buoys, beacons, &>c. ; ma- 
terials and apparatus for swimming exercises, for diving and, for salvage; 
floats, diving-bells, nautile impermeable clothing, submarine boats, apparatus 
for marine salvage, carrying hawsers, life-boats, &c. 

Seventh Group, (Palace Gallery 7.)— Food, fresh or preserved, in various 

STAGES OF PREPARA I ION. 

CLASS 67. — -Cereals and other farinaceous edibles, xcith their derivatives. — Wheat, rye, bar- 
ley, maize, rice, millet, and other cereals in grain or flour ; luxlled grain, meal. 
Farina of potatoes, rice, lentils, &c. ; glutens — tapioca, sago, arrowroot, cassava, 

and other fecula ; specimens of mixed meals, &c. 
Italian pastes, semoull, vermicelli, macaroni ; alimentary compositions as sub- 
stitutes for bread, ribbon, vermicelli, pulp, domestic pastes, &c. 
Class 68, (Palace Gallery 7.) — Baking and pastry cooking. — Various kinds of bread, with 
or without yeast ; fancy and figured bread ; compressed bread, for travelling, 
campaigning, &c. ; tea biscuits; specimens of pastry peculiar to every nation ; 
gingerbread and dry cakes susceptible of preservation. 
Class 69, (Palace Gallery 7.) — Fat alimentary substances, milk, eggs. — Fats and edible oils, 
fresh and preserved milk, fresh and salt butter, cheese, various kinds of eggs. 
CLASS 70, (Palace Gallery 7.) — Meat and fish. — Fresh and salt meat of various kinds ; meat 
preserved by different methods ; cakes of meat and portable soup ; hams and 
* preparations of meat ; fowl and game ; fresh and salt fish ; barrelled fish ; cod- 
fish, herrings, &c. 
Fish preserved in oil ; sardines, pickled tunny, &c. ; crustac^a and shells ; lob 
sters, prawns, oysters, preserved oysters, anchovies, &c. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 31 

Class 7J, (Palace Gallery 7.) — Vegetables and fruit. — Tubers, potatoes, &e, ; dry farina- 
ceous vegetables, beans, lentils, &e. ; green vegetables for cooking, cabbages, 
&c; vegetable roots, carrots, turnips, &c; spicy vegetables, onions, garlic, &c. 
Salad, cucurbita, pumpkins, melons ; vegetables preserved in salt, vinegar, or by 
acetic fermentation, sauerkraut, Sec. ; vegetables preserved by various meth- 
ods ; fresh fruits, dry and prepared fruits, plums, figs, grapes, &c. ; fruits pre- 
served without the aid of sugar. 

Class 72, (Palace Gallery 7.) — Condiments and stimulants, sugars and specimens of confec- 
tionery. — Spices, pepper, cinnamon, pimento, &c. ; table salt, vinegar, com- 
pound seasonings and stimulants, mustard, curry, English sauces, &e. ; tea, 
coffee, and aromatic beverages ; coffee of chiccory and sweet acorns ; choco- 
late, sugar for domestic use, sugar of grapes, milk, &c. 
s Various specimens of confectionery, comfits, sugar-plums, melting plums, nou- 

gats, angelicas, anise-seeds, &c. ; sweetmeats and jellies, preserved fruits, cit- 
rons, cedras, oranges, apples, pineapples ; brandy fruit, sirups, and sugary 
liquids. 

Class 73, (Palace Gallery 7.) — Fermented drinks. — Ordinary red and white wines, sweet 
and mulled wines, sparkling wines, cider, perry, and other drinks extracted from 
fruit. 
Beer and other drinks drawn from cereals ; fermented drinks, drawn from vege- 
table saps ; milk and saccbarine substances of all kinds ; brandy and alcohol ; 
spirituous drinks, gin, rum, tafia, kirschwasser, &.c. 

Eighth Group. — Animals and specimens of agricultural establishments. 

CLASS 74, (Park.) — Specimens of rural work and of agricultural establishments. — Types of 
rural buildings, of various countries ; materials of stables, cow-houses, ox-stalls, 
kennels, &c. ; apparatus for preparing food for animals, agricultural machinery 
in movement ; steam ploughs, reapers, mowers, haymakers, threshing ma- 
chines, &e. 
Types of agricultural manufactures, distilleries, sugar mills, refineries, breweries, 

flour mills, fecula and starch manufactures, silkworm nurseries, &c. 
Presses for wine, cider, oil, & c. 

Class 75, (Park.) — Horses, donkeys, mules, ofc. — Animals presented as characteristic of the 
art of breeding in all countries ; specimens of stables. 

Class 76, (Park.) — Oxen, buffaloes, &?c. — Animals presented' as specimens of the art of 
breeding in each country ; specimens of cow-houses and ox-stables. 

Class 77, (Park.) — Sheep, goats. — Animals presented as examples of the art of breeding in 
each country; types of sheepfolds, pens, and similar establishments. 

Class 78, (Park.) — Swine, rabbits, 8fc. — Animals presented, &c. ; types of hog-pens, and 
structures for raising animals of this class. 

Class 79, (Park.) — Poultry. — Animals presented, &c. ; types of hen-roosts, dovecotes, pea- 
santries, &c. ; apparatus for artificial hatching. 

Class 80, (Park.) — Hunting and watchdogs. — Shepherds' dogs, hunting dogs, watch dogs ; 
types of kennels and apparatus for training. 

Class 81, (Park.) — Useful insects. — Bees, silkworms, and various bombyxes, cochineal, in- 
sects for producing lac, &c. ; apparatus for breeding silkworms, bees, <fcc. 

Class 82, (Park.) — Fish, Crustacea, mollusca. — Living aquatic useful animals; aquariums, 
apparatus used in breeding fish, mollusca, and leeches. 

Ninth Group. — Live products and specimens of horticultural establishments. . 

CLASS 83, (Park.)— Hot-houses and horticultural materials.— Tools for gardeners, nursery- 
men, and horticulturists; apparatus for watering and for dressing grass 
plots, &c. 
Large hot-houses and their accessories ; small green-houses for apartments and 
for windows ; aquariums for aquatic plants ; water jets and other apparatus for 
ornamenting gardens. 

Class 84, (Park.) — Flowers and ornamental plants. — Species of plants and specimens of cul- 
tivation representing the characteristic types of garden and house plants of 
every country. 

Class 85, (Park.) — Kitchen garden plants. — Species of plants and specimens of cultivation 
representing the characteristic types of kitchen gardens in all countries. 

Class 86, (Park.)— Fruit trees. — Species of plants and specimens characteristic of the 
orchards in all countries ; slip3 of forest species. 

Class 87, (Park.)— Seeds and useftd forest plants.— Species of plants and specimens of cul- 
ture indicating the methods of replanting forests in different countries. 

Class 88, (Park.)— Hot-house plan's. — Specimens of the culture of various countries, with a 
view to utility and ornament. 



32 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

Tenth Group. — Objects exhibited with a special view to the amelioration ©f 
the moral and physical condition of the population. 

Class 89, (Palace Gallery 2 — Park. ) — Materials and methods for teaching children. — Plans 
and models of school-houses, of school furniture, apparatus, instruments, 
models, wall-maps, &c, designed for facilitating the teaching of children; ele- 
mentary collections suitable for teaching ordinary science ; models of designs, 
tables, and apparatus suitable for teaching singing and music. 

Apparatus and tables for instructing the deaf and dumb and the blind; school 
books, atlases, maps, pictures, periodical publications, and journals for educa- 
tion. 

Works of scholars of both sexes. 
Class 90, (Palace Gallery 2 — Park.) — Libraries and materials for instruction of adults in 
the family, the workshop, the commercial and corporation schools. — Works 
proper for family libraries, for the masters in workshops, cultivators, commer- 
cial teachers, mariners, travelling naturalists, &c. 

Almanacs, memorandum-books, and other publications suitable for travelling 
venders. 

Materials for school libraries, commercial libraries, &c. 

Materials for the technical teaching necessary in certain manual pursuits. 
Class 91, (Palace Galleries 3, 4, and 7.) — Furniture, clothing, and food, of all origins, dis- 
tinguished for useful qualities, united icith cheapness. — Collection methodique of 
objects enumerated in the third, fourth, and seventh groups, supplied to com 
merce by large factories or by master-workmen, and specially recommended by 
their adaptation to good domestic economy. 

Note. — The price and place of sale should be indicated on each object. 
Class 92, (Palace Gallery 4.) — Specimens of popular costumes of different countries. — Me- 
thodical collection of costumes of both sexes, for all ages, and for pursuits the 
most characteristic of each country. 

Note. — Choice should be made of costumes best adapted to the respective 
climate, profession, and peculiar taste of each people, and which in these 
respects are most in harmony in each country with national traditions. These 
costumes will be exhibited, as far as possible, on lay figures. 
CLASS 93, (Park.) — Specimens of habitations, characterized by cheapness, uniting sanitary 
conditions and comfort. — Types of habitations for families, suitable for various 
classes of laborers in each country. 

Types of habitations proposed for workmen belonging to manufactories in the 
suburbs or in the country. 
Class 94, (Palace and Park. )— Products of all sorts, made by master -ivorkmen. — Methodical 
collection of products enumerated in preceding groups, made by workmen who 
work on their own account, either alone or with their families, or an appren- 
tice, for sale or for domestic use. . 

Note. — Such products only will be admitted into this class as are distinguished, 
for their own qualities, novelty, perfection of the method of work, or by the 
useful influence this kind of work may exercise on the moral and physical con- 
dition of the people. 
Class 95, (Palace Gallery 6 — Park. )— Instruments and methods of work peculiar to mastet- 
workmen. — Instruments and processes (enumerated in sixth group) employed 
habitually by workmen working on their own account, or specially adapted to 
work done in the family or in the family circle. 

Manual works which display in a striking manner dexterity, intelligence, or taste 
of the workman. 

Manual works which, from various causes, have most successfully resisted the 
competition of machines. 



[Document C] 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION OF 1867, AT PARTS.— IMPERIAL COMMISSION. 
DEPARTMENT OF , GROUP — . CLASS — . 

Application for admission, {especially for French exhibitors.) 

The imperial commission published before the 15th of August, 1865, the distribution oi 
spaces of the French section among the classes of products named in the system of classifica- 
tion. (Document B, appended to the general regulations.) Every plan of exhibition, pre- 
pared by agreement of the producers whose varieties of industry belong to the same class, 
will be adopted by the imperial commission, provided no objection arises. (Gen. Reg., Art. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 



33 



31.) The delegates of these associations of producers will cause to be signed, by all con- 
cerned, an application for admission. (Art. 30.) Those producers Avho shall not have been 
able to unite with any one of the groups formed as above stated will address their application 
directly to the imperial commission. (Art. 34. ) 

To prepare an application for admission, it is necessary to fill up, in duplicate, this circular, 
fold it so that the address printed upon the reverse shall be exposed, and drop it into the post 
office, (icithout prepayment of postage. ) Every application for admission which shall not 
have been received before the 31st of October, 1865, or which shall not bear at the place in- 
dicated below the signature of the applicant, will not be received. The admission, if it is 
granted, will be made known to the exhibitor before the 31st of December, 1865. 

This circular of "application for admission" is delivered gratuitously in Paris, at the 
Palace of the Champs Elysees, in the departments, at the seats of the departmental commit- 
tees : 

(Name in full, rank, and profession of the applicant.) 

The undersigned applicant declares his agreement to the dispositions of the General Reg- 
ulations of July 7, 1865. 

(Signature.) 

(Residence of the applicant, and situation of his establishment.) 

(Designation of medals obtained at the Universal Expositions o/1851, 1855, and 1862.) 

(Detailed statement of products ichich the applicant desires to exhibit.) 



SPACE APPLIED FOR IN THE UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION OF 1867. 



Extent of floor in the palace. 


Extent of wall in the pal- 
ace. 


Exhibition in the park. 


Breadth of 
facade. 


Height. 


Depth. 


Breadth of 
facade. 


Height. 


Form and dimension 
of space desired. 















Observations. — Indicate in a note appended to the application — 

1st. If it is desired to exhibit machines or other objects requiring foundations or special 
constructions, give the dimensions of these foundations or constructions. 

2d. If it is desired to exhibit apparatus requiring the employment of water, of gas, or of 
steam, what quantity or what pressure of water, or gas, or steam, will be necessary. 

3d. If it is desired to put machinery in motion, what will be the velocity proper to each 
machine, and what motive power will be required, expressed in horse-power. 

4th. In general, whatever information will be of use in the placing of the machines, and, 
wherever possible, a plan upon a fixed scale. 

Producers who apply for room in the park, and propose to establish there constructions of 
any kind, agricultural buildings, gardens, will take care to give a plan, with a scale of the 
establishment proposed, with an indication of the extent of ground which will be necessary. 



[Enclosure No. 6 to despatch 151.] 

Mr. Beckicith to Mr. Bigeloic. 

Paris, July 30, 1865. 

Dear Sir : The organization of the commission necessary for the international exhibi • 
tion will be very simple. 

It must be in conformity with the rules adopted by the imperial commission, and adapted 
to the work with which it will be charged. 

3 



34 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

The work naturally divides itself into two parts— 

1st. That which relates to the selection and shipment of products from America, their 
reception and inland transport in France, placement for exhibition, and finally repacking, 
transport, and re-export, closing with an account current, and vouchers for receipts and ex- 
penditures. 

2d. That which relates to the scientific and practical report on the exhibition, which the 
government will require for publication. 

The first part is a matter of ordinary business, readily performed by any one familiar with 
the usages of commerce, and accustomed to organize and conduct commercial operations. 

By the 5th article of the regulations of the imperial commission, you will observe that the 
commission precludes itself from communicating with exhibitors, or receiving products from 
them. All communications with the imperial commission, and all foreign articles intended 
for exhibition, must pass through the hands of the foreign commissions, and no other articles 
will be received. The foreign commissions must also superintend the reception, placement, 
and removal of their respective exhibitions. 

These provisions simplify and concentrate the work, and one commissioner is all that it 
requires. One man, indeed, can conduct the work better, cheaper, and with more expedition 
than many men. 

He should be authorized to employ such assistants as may be necessary, and to engage 
the services of commercial houses in Paris and Havre accustomed to receive, warehouse, and 
forward goods, and pay them the customary charges for such service. One agent in the 
United States, say in New York, will also be required, and only one. 

If the services of others are needed (and they may doubtless be used with advantage) 
in other localities, they should all take their directions from the agent in New York, for the 
following reasons, which must be stated a little in detail : 

The exhibition palace will be in the form of a broad ellipse, surrounded by a garden and 
having a garden in the centre. 

The building will be traversed by circular avenues, running parallel with the walls ; and 
the avenues will be crossed by passages radiating from the centre to the circumference of the 
building. 

The apportionments of ground to nationalities will ran in belts from the radii, from the 
centre to the circumference. 

The visitor, in following the radial lines, will be in the line of nationalities ; and in follow- 
ing the circular avenues, will be in the line of groups, of which there are 10, and of classi 
fications, of which there are 95. 

It may happen, and doubtless will happen, that more objects appropriate to one group 
will be offered than the ground set apart for it can receive. 

In such case the objects in excess cannot invade the ground of another group ; this would 
disturb the order and derange the plan of exposition; the excess, therefore, could not be ex- 
hibited, and the result would be a waste of expense and disappointment to the exhibitor. 

It will be for the agent in New York, with his plans and record before him, to parcel out 
the ground and guard against confusion and disappointment. 

But this concentration will not embarrass the shipment of articles from all convenient ports 
in the country. 

The various information required from time to time by exhibitors should also pass through 
one and the same channel to secure uniformity and avoid confusion. 

It results from the preceding that concentration and unity are necessary ; and for this pur- 
pose the agent in N/ew York can best select his own assistants, who should all receive their 
information and instructions from him, as he, in turn, will receive them from Paris. 

It is obvious that an exhibition of the natural products and of the agricultural and indus- 
trial arts of America, on a national scale, will involve considerable expense. 

The consideration of this, however, belongs to the government and to Congress, and I 
allude to it only for the purpose of a single suggestion, which is, the necessity of defining 
distinctly the part which the government may undertake. 

They may decide to receive the products by their agents in the ports of shipment in the 
United States, export them to Paris, place them for exhibition, re-export them, and deliver 
them to owners in home ports. 

Or they may divide the work and expense with exhibitors, by taking up the products as 
aforesaid, exhibiting them, and redelivering, on return to the port of Havre; at which point 
the government service and expense would cease, and that of the owners begin. 

Or the government might take up the work at its arrival at Havre, and lay it down on its 
return to the same port. 

This last part would carry with it the expenses of warehousing, inland transport, cartage 
and labor, uapacking, placing, and repacking, and the cost of tables, show-cases, fixtures 
and apparatus required for exhibition, &c. 

But whatever the work undertaken by the government, it should be separated from that 
of the exhibitors, and should include the entire control of the products while they remain in 
France under bonds. 

Short of this it would be impossible to conduct the business in conformity with the regula- 
tions, which are intended to secure order and expedition, and avoid delays and dissatisfaction. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 35 

Indeed, as to the exhibition itself, the articles cannot enter except in charge of the govern- 
ment commission. 

The period has arrived when the commission should be constituted. Most of the national 
commissions have been constituted, and have commenced their work. The disadvantages 
are considerable of coming in at a later period, after successive preliminary measures have 
been settled, which might have been modified, but cannot be altered. 

Second. This part of the work relates to the report, and this department of the commission 
should be added to the first part, at a later period : any time before the opening of the ex- 
hibition, in 1867, will be soon enough, as their work will not commence until then. 

This division need not be limited as to numbers ; but, if not composed of, it should com- 
prise scientific and professional men — men engaged in agriculture, in the industrial arts and 
fine arts, qualified for studying the exhibition in a professional and practical sense ; for 
appreciating inventions, new combinations and methods ; for judging of processes and their 
products, &c. ; and for reporting their observations and studies in popular language, adapted 
to the diffusion of popular knowledge. 

It will devolve on these gentlemen to disclose the methods and means of the marvellous 
progress in the combination of science and knowledge with the arts of industry, which so 
greatly increases the productiveness of labor, skill, and capital. The fact of such increase 
is manifest to all observers, in the unequalled growth of commerce and wealth among nations ; 
but the methods of it are less obvious. 

Of the means for diffusing this knowledge none are found more efficient, or have taken so 
great development of late, as national and international exhibitions, which are consequently 
increasing in numbers and in importance in all countries. 

They have become national schools for men in every department of productive industry. 

The United States are reasonably expected to contribute their share, and to claim the bene- 
fits of the general contribution. 

They have been invited to do so, and will not think they can afford to stand aloof on this 
occasion, nor fail to act on a scale that comes up to the national proportions we claim for 
ourselves in international affairs. 
Very trulv, yours, 

N. M. BECKWITH. 



Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward. 



[With two enclosures. ] 



No. 158.] Legation of the United States, 

Paris, August 22, 1S65. 

Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith a communication from the Com- 
missioner General of the Exposition Universal for 1867, of which enclosure 
No. 1 is a copy, and enclosure No. 2 is a translation. 

Permit me to invite yowr attention to the request contained in the last clause 
of this communication. 

I remain, sir, with great respect, your very obedient servant, 

JOHN BIGELOW. 
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 



[Enclosure No. 2 to despatch No. 158. — Translation.] 
Mr. Le Play to Mr. Bigelow. 

Imperial Commission, Paris, 
Palace of Industry, (Door No. 1,) August 1J, 1865. 

Sir : I had the honor in my last communication to inform you that the imperial commis- 
sion had limited the section allowed to exhibitors from the United States to an area of 2,788 
square metres*, 2,605 of which are situated in the galleries, and 183 in the porch and the 
covered walk. Called upon by the terms of its general regulations to inform, previous to 
the 15th of August next, the representatives of the nations which shall participate in this 
great assembly of the settled limits of the space which it has been able to assign to them, 



36 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

the imperial commission instructs me to confirm to you officially that decision, and to ad- 
dress to you at the same time a plan of the palace of the Exposition, which you will find 
enclosed,! and in which you will easily distinguish, by its color, the portion reserved for your 
country. 

The distribution of the park situated around the palace among 1 the divers nations which 
will participate in the Exposition is not yet made ; the imperial commission purposes com- 
pleting that task within a short time. It therefore requests to be informed by you, as soon 
as possible, of the nature and character of the works which the United States intend erecting 
in the park, and of the space they will require. 

Accept, sir, renewed assurances of my high consideration. 

F. LE PLAY, 
The Counsellor of State, General Commissioner. 
M. BlGELOW, 

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States. 

* A metre is 39.37 inches in length, making the space allowed for the United States in the exhibition palace 
about thirty thousand square feet, 
t The map, being unimportant to exhibitors, is omitted. 



Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow. 

No. 236. | Department of State, 

Washington, September 2, 1865. 

Sir : I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 151, of the 
2d of August, together with its accompaniments, relative to the Universal Ex- 
position of 1867, at Paris. 

The plan is so extensive, and its details so complicated, that this department 
could not act upon it, in the absence of legislation by Congress, except in dis- 
seminating the information contained in the despatch and its accompaniments, 
by the publication and distribution of two thousand copies in pamphlet form. 

I agree with you in the opinion that all of the larger space assigned to the 
United States is likely to be fully occupied, and it would, perhaps, be well for 
you to intimate as much to the imperial commission. 

It is to be regretted that our Congress will not have been in session between 
the date of the announcement of the exhibition and the time limited for appli- 
cations of exhibitors, and that, consequently, the executive government is with- 
out authority or funds to enable it to act effectively. In view of this fact, I 
would suggest that you signify to the imperial commission that, an extension 
of the time would be gratifying to the government. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



John Bigelow, Esq., $fe., fyc, fyc, Paris. 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 



Mr. Seivard to Mr. Bigelow. 



& 



No. 266.] Department of State, 

Washington, September 21, 1865. 

Sir : That you may be fully apprised of what has been done towards noti- 
fying to the people of the United States the arrangements for the proposed 
Universal Exposition for ]867, 1 enclose a copy of a statement which was given 
to the public press on the 4th instant, a circular letter of the 14th instant, and 
of the pamphlet referred to therein, which has been prepared, and is being dis- 
tributed with the utmost possible despatch. Notwithstanding this, if the limited 
time allowed for filing applications is adhered to in regard to this country, the 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 37 

majority of those who would probably become exhibitors, if sufficient time were 
allowed, will be practically excluded by the impossibility of getting in their 
applications in season for acceptance. It is hoped, therefore, that the extension 
suggested in a former instruction will be ample to allow all to unite in the exhi- 
bition who are disposed to, so far as the space assigned will permit. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 



John Bigelow, Esq., fyc., fyc., Sfc, Paris. 



Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward. 



'& 



No. 174.] Legation of the United States, 

Paris, September 21, 1865. 

Sir : The circular of which No. 1 is a translation has been issued by the 
commissioners of the Universal Exposition of 1867. It provides for the creation 
of an international scientific commission, whose duty it shall be to note the 
recent advances made in the sciences and arts, to contribute what they can to 
diffuse the knowledge of useful discoveries, to encourage international reforms, 
and, lastly, to point out, in special publications, the useful results to be derived 
from the Exposition. 

I invite your specal attention to the provisions of this circular, and take the 
liberty of suggesting that our government can in no way turn this Exposition to 
better account than by sending a few of its cleverest men of science to make 
part of this commission. I say its cleverest, because it is not worth while to 
send men who would see nothing, and therefore describe nothing, which would 
not be seen, and as well or better described, by the French, and other foreign 
exhibitors. 

The Exposition will be transitory, but the accounts that will be written about 
it have a chance of enduring. Europe will assign this duty to her choicest 
men. There is glory to be won in a successful competition with them. I think 
the opportunity should not be neglected. 

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, 

JOHN BIGELOW. 

Hon. William H. Sewari>, 

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 



[Enclosure No. 1 to despatch No. 174. ] 

Universal Exposition of 1867, at Paris. — Imperial Commission. — Order establishing the 

Scientific Commission. 

THE MINISTER OF STATE, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE IMPERIAL COMMISSION — 

In accordance with the general regulations adopted by the imperial commission, 7th July, 
1865, and approved by an imperial decree of the date of 12th July, 1865, which provides for 
the institution of a series of studies and experiments, under the direction of a scientific 
commission, and for the publication of results of general interest attained by these labors — 
(Article 63)— 

ORDERS. 

Article 1. There is established in connexion with the imperial commission an inter- 
national scientific commission, having for its object : 

1st. To indicate the best means of representing, at the Exposition of 1867, the recent ad- 
vances made in the sciences, yi the liberal and industrial arts. 



38 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

2d. To contribute to the extension of the employment of useful discoyeries, and to en- 
courage reforms of international interest, such as the adoption of uniform weights and 
measures, identical scientific unities, &c. 

3d. To point out in special publications the results of general utility to be derived from 
the Exposition, and to undertake, if it be necessary, the researches required for their accom- 
plishment. 

Article 2. The scientific commission is composed of Frenchmen, appointed directly 
by the imperial commission, and of foreigners appointed upon the nomination of their re- 
spective countries. These appointments will be made successively by special orders. 

Article 3. Scientific organizations, and, in general, persons interested in the progress of 
the sciences and the arts, are invited to submit to the imperial commission their opinions in 
regard to the*researches to be undertaken, and the questions to be considered. 

Article 4. The members of the scientific commission will not be expected to hold stated 
meetings. They can labor separately upon the matters which are given them to treat ; and 
can send, in their own names, the fruits of their labor to the imperial commission. It will 
also be permitted to them to meet with their colleagues of all countries. 

Article 5. The memoranda and reports will be submitted before the 1st July, 1867, to 
the imperial commission, and published, if necessary, under its direction. The whole will 
form the collection of the labors of the scientific commission. 

Article 6. The counsellor of state, commissioner general, is charged with the execution 
of these orders. 

The Minister of State, Vice-President of the Imperial Commission, 

ROUHER. 

PARIS, September 20, 1865. 



Mr. Hunter to Mr. Derby. 

Department of State, 

Washington, October 9, 1865. 

Sin : Having been informed of your willingness to act as the agent in the 
United States for the Paris Exposition for 1867, I enclose for your guidance 
and information a copy of a pamphlet prepared and published by this depart- 
ment, and which contains the despatches of Mr. Bigelow relative to the condi- 
tions upon which citizens of the United States can participate in the Exposition. 
The limited period allowed for applications to be filed was, on the 2d of Sep- 
tember, pointed out to Mr. Bigelow, and he was requested to inform the imperial 
commission that an extension of the time would be gratifying to this govern- 
ment ; and on the 21st of that month his attention was again called to the im- 
portance of such an extension of time as would enable all of our citizens, who 
are so disposed, to unite in the exhibition so far as the space assigned will 
permit. 

Your attention is particularly invited to the suggestions made by Mr. Beck- 
with, in his letter of the 30th of July, printed on page 26 of the pamphlet, 
and to Mr. Bigelow's remarks on page 7 of the same. 

Two thousand copies of the pamphlet have been distributed, a number having 
been sent to each of the governors of States and Territories, and a number 
having been sent to various other quarters where they would be likely to reach 
parties interested. Seventy-five copies, which remain on hand, will be for- 
warded to your address, without delay, for such disposition as you may think 
proper. Whenever the result of the application for extension is known here, 
you will be informed of it. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary. 

J. C. Derby, Esq., 

United States Despatch Agent, New York. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS 39 

Mr. Hunter to Mr. Derby. 

Department of State, 

Washington, October 9, 1865. 
Sir : I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th instant, in- 
forming- me of your acceptance of the appointment as agent of the French 
Exposition for 1867. 

My letter of this morning, which was suggested by a telegram from the 
Secretary, contains, I believe, all of the directions which the department can 
give you. I enclose for your information, however, a copy of an instruction 
of this date to Mr. Bigelow, notifying him of your appointment, and making 
certain suggestions in regard to the extension of the time for applications from 
the United States. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary. 
J. 0. Derby, Esq., 

Agent in the United States for the French 

Universal Exj)ositio , n of 1867, New York. 



Mr. Hunter to Mr. Bigelow. 

No. 284.] Department of State, 

Washington, October 9, 1865. 

Sir : With reference to the correspondence which has taken place upon the 
subject of the French Universal Exposition for 1867, 1 have to inform you that 
J. 0. Derby, esq., the despatch agent of the United States at New York, has 
been selected, and has consented to act as the agent for the Exposition in this 
country. I will thank you to request Mr. Beckwith to enter into correspond- 
ence with him as to the steps which it may be advisable for him to take in that 
capacity. 

With regard to the extension which you have been requested to ask for of 
the time for filing applications of our citizens to become exhibitors, I would 
suggest that, if it should be found that the imperial commission are unable 
formally to accede to the proposed change, you will request Mr. Beckwith, 
when he prepares the general plan of organization of our branch of the exhibi- 
tion, required according to the programme on the 31st of the present month, to 
make such allowance as his judgment may dictate for additional machinery and 
articles for which it may be expected subsequent applications will be made. 

As illustrating the interest felt in this exhibition here, and in the extension 
of the time for admission, I enclose a copy of a communication of the 28th 
ultimo from his excellency the governor of Illinois. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



John Bigelow, Esq., tyc., fyc, fy-c 



W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary. 



[Enclosure No. 1 in despatch No. 284.] 

Governor Oglesby to Mr. Seward. 

State of Illinois, Executive Department, 

Springfield, September 28, 1865. 

Sir : Your communication of the 20th instant, together with several copies of a pamphlet, 
relating to the "French Universal Exposition," to be held at Paris in 1867, was received 
yesterday. I immediately transmitted to the Hon. John P. Reynolds, secretary of the State 



40 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

Agricultural Society, copies of the pamphlet, and received in reply his letter of the 27th 
instant, a copy of which I take the liberty of transmitting herewith, and request your atten- 
tion to the same. As we are not informed who the foreign commissioner is for this country 
nor who is the general agent at New York, who will act for this commission, I venture to 
submit to you a statement of the obvious difficulty there is in the way of an effort upon the 
part of our people to honorably compete with other countries for premiums, in the hope that 
you may be able to partially remove what seems an insuperable inconvenience to all citizens 
of this State who may feel inclined to send to the Universal Exposition at Paris such pro- 
ducts of the industry and agriculture of this State as we may be entitled to, in a just appor- 
tionment in the temporary palace of the space assigned to the United States, that of prepar- 
ing and sending to the imperial commission by the foreign commissioners the plan of the 
organization of their countrymen, drawn on a scale of 0.002 to the metre, before October 31, 
1865. 

In behalf of those who are inclined to become exhibitors from this State, I respectfully re- 
quest that the time for this purpose may be extended to the 31st of March, 1866. If it is de- 
sirable to encourage contributions from this part of the United States, it is believed that this 
modification in the general regulations by the imperial commissioners will be necessary. 

Every effort, however, will be made to bring the whole subject to the notice of the people 
of the State as promptly as possible through the public press. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, yours, 

R. J. OGLESBY, Governor of Illinois.' 

Hon. William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 



[Enclosure No. 2 in despatch No. 284. ] 

Mr. Reynolds to Governor Oglesby. 

Rooms of the Illinois State Agricultural Society, 

Secretary's Office, Springfield, September 27, 1865. 

Dear Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt from your excellency of three copies 
of a pamphlet relating to the "French Universal Exposition" to be held at Paris in 1867. 

It has so happened that in every instance when American exhibitors have been called upon 
to take part in any foreign exhibition of the industry of all nations, the notice to them has 
been so short as to really preclude them from participating in the enterprise to the extent they 
desired, or that Avas necessary to enable them to fairly represent the industrial progress of 
the United States. This Exposition seems to afford no exception to the rule. 

All foreign contributions must be placed in charge of the imperial commission by foreign 
commissioners, and these latter, before October 31, 1865, must prepare and send to the impe- 
rial commission the plan of organization of their countrymen, so that there is now little 
over one month in which to ascertain the probable extent of American contributions to this Ex- 
position, and transmit the plan to the imperial commission ; and by reference to Article 35, 
page 12 of the pamphlets, you will observe that applications for admission claims, and all 
documents relating to them, shall be sent to Paris before October 31, 1865, leaving the Illinois 
exhibitors now some thirty-four days in which to make the necessary preparation and trans- 
mit their applications to Paris. Practically, in short, if the times and rules prescribed for foreign 
exhibitors shall be strictly adhered to by the imperial commissioners, Illinois farmers and me- 
chanics are hopelessly and needlessly shut out from participating, in any degree whatever, 
in this important exhibition. I say needlessly, for the parties exhibiting are allowed until 
March 5, 1867, to place their contributions in the seaport towns of France, to be thence for- 
warded to Paris ; and why should it be necessary to require them a year and a half before that 
time to determine previously what they will exhibit, and how much space they will occupy ? 
I am quite sure the mechanics and manufacturers and farmers of the northwest, with due 
notice and reasonable time allowed them, will fill the space allotted to them in the Universal 
Exposition of 1867 with contributions of which the young republic may well be proud, and 
of which the rest of mankind may take notice to their advantage ; and I sincerely trust your 
excellency will at least make an effort to secure such modification of the published regulations 
and requirements as will give those of the northwest who desire to do so a fair opportunity 
to compete. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

JOHN P. REYNOLDS, Secretary. 

His Excellency Richard J. Oglesby, 

Governor, Springfield, Illinois. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 41 

Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward. 



"&' 



No. 191.] Legation of the United States, 

Paris, October 27, 1865. 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 284, 
with an enclosure, by which I am advised of the appointment of J. C. Derby 
esq., of New York, as agent for the French Universal Exposition of 1867, to 
reside in the United States. 

I also have the honor to enclose a copy of a letter thi3 day received from Mr. 
Beckwith, commissioner of the Exposition for the United States residing at 
Paris, from the tenor of which it would appear desirable that Americans wishing 
to exhibit should be notified as soon as possible to send in their applications 
with specifications to Mr. Derby, instead of sending them to Mr. Beckwith. 
The reasons for giving this direction to the applications are sufficiently disclosed 
in Mr. Beckwith's note. I would suggest, also, that exhibitors be notified at 
the same time to make their applications as soon as possible, that the New York 
commissioner may have time enough to make his selections, allotments of space, 
drawings, &c, and transmit them to the commissioner at Paris before the 31st 
of January. 

It may be also desirable that the public be prepared in some way, either in 
this notice or otherwise, to expect that it will be the endeavor of the commis- 
sioners to secure as complete a representation of the art and industry of the 
United States as possible, and for that purpose that it will be necessary for them 
to make selections of representative articles in every class or group, rather 
than accept many specimens in the same class, whatever may be their merit. 
As the space will be limited, it is as well that this guiding principle of having 
a complete Exposition, if we are to have any, should be known early, both to 
aid in bringing about such a desirable result, and to prevent needless disappoint- 
ment. 

It is to be presumed that the Army and Navy Departments have some novel- 
ties appropriate for this Exposition ; if so, it is needless for me to say that any- 
thing coming from those quarters would be likely to command special attention. 

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, 



JOHN BIGELOW. 



Hon. William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State. 



Mr. Beckwith to Mr. Bigeloio. 
[Enclosed in despatch No. J 91.] 

Paris, October 26, 1865. 

Dear Sir : In conformity with the instructions of the Secretary of State which you com- 
municated to me, I have to-day placed myself in correspondence with J. C. Derby, esq., 
agent, New York. I have prepared for him — 

. 1st. A general letter placing before him the present state of that part of the business of the 
Exhibition of 1867 which he will have first to take up. 

2d. The loss of time consequent upon the necessity of waiting for the action of Congress 
renders it necessary to transfer to New York the work of dividing the ground among exhib- 
itors, (as suggested in my letter to you of the 30th July, published,) where preparation can 
be made pending the needful legislation, to complete the work of distribution in a brief space 
of time afterwards. 

I have, therefore, transmitted to Mr. Derby eighteen letters, comprising all the applications 
for space in the Exhibition which I have received to this date. I have desired him to place 
the letters on record as a part of the applications to be considered in making the distribution 
of ground, and I have in conformity advised the writers that they will receive from Mr. 
Derby, in due time, definitive advices of the result of their applications. 



42 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

I shall now prepare as early as possible the plans and drawings by which Mr. Derby will 
be governed in making the allotments, and shall point out to him the manner and extent to 
-which he can alter these plans to suit circumstances without departing from the general order 
to which all conform. These documents will be accompanied by explanations and informa- 
tion which will, I hope, render the work easy. 

I would now suggest the expediency of a notice, authorized by the government, requesting 
all who wish to exhibit, and have not made applications, to send in their applications to Mr. 
Derby, with a limit of time in the notice beyond which no applications can be received. 

The work will be so far advanced by this method, I trust, that by the time the needful 
legislation is finished the allotments can at once be made, and the plans, catalogues, and re- 
ports sent forward, so as to be returned to the imperial commission within the extended time 
they will be able to allow us. 

I beg to call your particular attention to the importance of the allotments of ground ; this, 
in reality, is the formation in embryo of the Exhibition. 

The selections of products will be limited in quantity to the area they are to occupy, but in 
variety and character they should comprise a full and fair representation of American pro- 
ducts, industry, arts, and science. 

To make these selections and the allotments of space for them is the work which now de- 
volves on Mr. Derby, and for the selections it is not probable that any one man could be as 
competent as several, each chosen for his knowledge in different departments. 

When the applications are all in, and the work prepared, the selections and apportion- 
ments, which must proceed together, will occupy but little time. 

The attention of the government, I trust, will be given to this, and suitable persons invited 
to assist Mr. Derby for a brief period in this important part of the work. 
Your obedient servant, 

N. M. BECKWITH, Commissioner. 

John Bigelow, Esq., , 

Minister of the United States of America, Paris. 



Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow. 

Department of State, 

Washington, November 11, 1865. 
S[R: Your despatch of the 27th ultimo, No. 191, relative to the French Uni- 
versal Exhibition, and transmitting a copy of a letter of the previous day from 
Mr. Beck with on the subject, has been received. 

A despatch has reached you in advance of this, from which you will have 
learned that the suggestions of Mr. Beckwith and yourself have been practi- 
cally anticipated in the proceedings of the department. I have, however, di- 
rected that your communication, which I am now answering, be published, and 
that copies be specially furnished to the Secretary of War and to the Secretary 
of the Navy. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
John Bigelow, Esq., fyc, fyc., fyv. 



CIRCULAR 



Department of State, 

Washington, October 18, 1865. 

Sir : With reference to the Paris Universal Exposition for 1867, the enclosed printed copy 
of a statement, which has been published with the sanction of this department, is transmitted 
for the information of yourself and of those who may be interested in the matter in your 
neighborhood. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 43 

THE PARIS UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION FOR 1867. 

The Secretary of State lias recently distributed a pamphlet on this subject, in which it was 
announced that all applications of citizens of the United States must be filed at Paris before 
the 31st of October, instant. In thus publishing the correspondence, Mr. Seward felt it to 
be his duty to call attention to the passage to that effect in one of Mr. Bigelow's despatches. 
It is presumed, however, that the imperial commission will accede to a request, which has 
been made through our minister at Paris, for an extension of time for applications from the 
United States, and that even if they should be unable to do so, Mr. Beckwith, our special 
commissioner at Paris, can draw up the general plan of organization required by the pro- 
gramme before the 31st of this month, in such a manner as to provide for the admission of 
applications from the United States which may be made before January, 1866, or which may 
be received at Paris in time to be included, if accepted by our agents, in the detailed plan of 
arrangements required by the imperial commission from Mr. Beckwith, before the 31st of the 
last-named month. As stated in an official notice published a few days ago, J. C. Derby, 
esq., United States despatch agent at New York, (No. 5 Spruce street,) has been appointed 
agent for the Exposition in the United States. All applications to exhibit, and for informa- 
tion, should therefore be addressed to him ; and he is authorized to decide upon the admissi- 
bility of such applications. With regard to the question of transportation, the programme 
gives until the 6th of March, 1867, for the admission of foreign products at French seaports ; 
and Congress will, therefore, have ample time to decide whether they will, as heretofore on 
the occasions of exhibitions of such magnitude, provide free transportation for articles going 
from the United States. 

It would appear that the inventors and producers of the United States have only to make 
up their minds and notify Mr. Derby with reasonable promptness as to what they purpose to 
send, to secure the advantage of being represented at an exhibition which will probably 
surpass any of its predecessors in splendor and importance. 



Mr. Hunter to Mr. Bigelow. 

No. 290.] Department of State, 

Washington, October 23, 1865. 

Sir : Your despatch of the 21st of September, No. 174, with one enclosure 
relative to the appointment of an international scientific commission in con- 
nexion with the Paris Universal Exposition for 1867, has been received. Your 
judicious suggestions on the subject will be commended to the attention of Con- 
gress at an early day during its approaching session. 
1 am, sir, your obedient servant, 

W. HUNTER. 
John Bigelow, Esq., fye., fyc, Sfc. 



Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward. 
[With enclosures. ] 

No. 189.] Lkgation of the United States, 

Paris, October 25, 1865. 

Sir : Incompliance with the instructions contained in your despatch No. 236, 
I represented to the Commissioner General of the Universal Exposition of 1867 
the impossibility of my country -people availing themselves, to any satisfactory 
extent, of the invitation of the commissioners to be represented on that occassion 
unless the time for complying with the preliminary conditions was extended. I 
have this day received from Mr. Le Play a reply, in which he informs me that 
the commissioners, in view of the exceptional circumstances in which we were 
placed, had directed, in substance, that the reports required by the published reg- 
ulations to be made by foreign commissioners, before the 31st of October, 1865, 



44 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

would be received from the commissioner of the United States as late as the 
31st of January, 1866. 

The correspondence which has passed between us upon the subject is en- 
closed. 

I have reason to believe that the prompt and favorable consideration given to 
my application was due, in a great degree, to an earnest wish expressed by the 
Emperor that every facility should be afforded for a liberal representation of 
American industry and art. It is due, therefore, to his Majesty, as well as to 
the commissioners, that Congress lose no time, after it assembles, in accepting 
or declining the invitation of the commissioners, and should they accept it, in 
making suitable and immediate provisions for a compliance with such regula- 
tions as have not been waived by the French authorities. 
I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, 

JOHN BIGELOW. 

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 



[Enclosure 1 to dispatch 189.] 

Mr. Bigclow to Mr. Le Play. 

Legation of the United States, 

Paris, October 13, 1865. 

Sir : Recalling the communication which I had the honor to address to you dated the 18th 
ultkno, in partial response to your note of the 11th of August last, I desire to submit to you, 
and through you to the imperial commissioners, a supplementary reply suggested hy recent 
instructions from my government. 

Official communication of the hospitable intentions of the Emperor and of the imperial 
commission did not reach my government until early in April last. With as little delay as 
possible, I was commissioned to represent my government, provisionally at least, as its 
special agent near the commissioners, notice of which reached me on the 28th of April last. 

By the regulations of the commissioners, each foreign commission is required to deliver a 
plan exhibiting the subdivisions which they adopt in their respective departments destined 
for each class of objects to be exhibited by the 3lst of October, and a list of all the exhibitors, 
with a detailed plan of the ground to be allotted to each in the respective departments, before 
the 31st of January next. 

I have already had the honor to inform you that the executive government of the United 
States has no authority to enter into engagements, in anticipation of the action of the national 
legislature, for the purposes contemplated in this gratifying invitation of the imperial govern- 
ment, and that, unfortunately, Congress had adjourned before the invitation was communi- 
cated to the President. That body does not reassemble before the month of December next, 
till when, whatever is done must be done at the risk of not conforming with the policy and 
plans which must ultimately prevail. 

For a fair representation of the arts, implements, and agricultural, mineral, and manufac- 
tured products of a nation, time is necessary — 

1. To notify all those different interests. 

2. For them to send in their applications. 

3. For a selection to.be made from the articles presented proportioned to the allotted space. 
All this work must precede the report of allotments called for on the 31st of October, and 

From this alone can the classification of objects, lists of exhibitors, and plans be made which 
are called for on the 31st of January, 1866. 

I have already informed you that it would be impossible for Americans to avail themselves, 
to any extent, of the privileges offered by the imperial commission upon these terms. As- 
suming, however, that some modification or relaxation of the regulations might be made, in 
view of the exceptional circumstances in which the American exhibitors are placed, my gov- 
ernment hastened to spread before the country all the information in its possession in regard 
to the Exposition, that no time need be lost by exhibitors after the assembling of Congress in 
setting in motion whatever machinery it should place at their service. I have before me a 
voluminous quarto pamphlet just published under the auspices of the State Department, con- 
taining a translation of the regulations and classifications with which you favored me, a large 
ground plan of the Exposition, and all the official correspondence which has reached the gov- 
ernment from this legation. This pamphlet, as I am informed by the Secretary of State in a 
communication which accompanies it, and of which I enclose a copy, has been distributed 
with the utmost possible despatch, while a brief memerandum of facts of most immediate im- 
portance to exhibitors has been prepared and widely circulated in the public journals. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 4o 

You will not fail to discover in these facts, and in the tenor of Mr. Seward's despatch, evi- 
dence of the great interest which the President takes in the coming Exposition, and of his 
desire to insure, as far as practicable, a compliance with all the conditions imposed by the 
commissioners. 

But I need not say that an absolute compliance will be impossible. "If," says Mr. Sew- 
ard, "the time allotted for filing applications is adhered to in regard to the United States, 
the majority of those who would probably become exhibitors if sufficient time were allowed 
will be practically excluded by the impossibility of getting the applications in in season for 
acceptance." 

Under these circumstances, I am instructed by my government to submit to the imperial 
commissioners, without delay, an application for an extension of the time within which 
American exhibitors will be required to comply with the terms of Articles 7 and 9 of the gen- 
eral regulations of the imperial commission, approved by imperial decree July 12, J 865. 

I trust the imperial commissioners will see in this request a proof of the earnest desire of 
my government to testify its high appreciation of the motives which inspired this noble en- 
terprise, and of its wish to d© what becomes it to render the Exposition what it was designed 
to be — universal. 

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 

JOHN BIGELOW, 
Envsy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the 

United States, and Special Agent for the Exposition. 
Monsieur Le Play, 

Counsellor of State, Special Commissioner, 8?c, 8?c., 8?c. 



[Enclosure 3 to despatch 189. — Translation.] 

Mr. Le Play to Mr. Bigelow. 

Imperial Commission, 
Paris Palace of Industry, {Door No. 1,) October 23, 1865. . 

Mr. Minister : I have received your letter dated the 17th October, by which you inform 
me that the government of the United States is not able to assume any engagement relative 
to the Universal Exposition of 1867 before Congress has acted upon the subject at the coming 
legislative session. You add that, notwithstanding, the executive authority has given great 
publicity to the documents sent by the imperial commission, and that it has collected in a 
pamphlet the documents and information of a nature interesting to producers. You have had 
the kindness to send me a copy of a letter from Mr. Seward, testifying the interest which his 
Excellency Mr. President Johnson takes in this enterprise, and of his desire to conform as 
far as possible to the wishes of the imperial commission. But your government calls atten- 
tion to the fact that, in consequence of the adjournment of Congress, it cannot forward to the 
imperial commission before the 31st October, 1865, the plan of arrangement on the scale of 
0.002 to the metre, (Article 7, General Regulations, ) and it charges you to request of the com- 
mission a prolongation of the time allowed. 

I thank you, Mr. Minister, for these several communications. The imperial commission 
.sees with the greatest pleasure the efforts of your government to insure the participation of the 
United States in the Exposition of 1867, and the activity which you have yourself shown in 
transmitting its instructions, and recommending them to the attention of the executive 
authority. It comprehends, besides, that by reason of the adjournment of Congress it will 
not be possible to adopt final measures before the 31st October, 1865, or even , to send the 
approximate plan required by the general regulations. It therefore, making an exception, 
consents to wait for this plan until the 31st of next January, and to delay up to that time the 
construction of the interior divisions of the section of the United States. 

I consider that your government has adopted an excellent measure in bringing to the 
knowledge of the public by a pamphlet and by the newspapers the documents relative to the 
Exposition. The American producers, thus informed in advance, will be sooner prepared to 
send their applications, and it will be easier for you to conform to the new allowance of time 
of which I have the honor to notify you. I hope, moreover, that this delay, which could 
not be extended, in view of the obligation resting upon the imperial commission to hasten 
their buildings, will meet with your assent. 

Accept, Mr. Minister, the assurance of my high consideration. 

F. Le PLAY, 
Counsellor of State and Commissioner General. 

Mr. John Bigelow, 

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States. 

P. S. — I am glad to renew to you the assurance of the very lively interest which I attach 
'personally to seeing at last, for the first time, your great nation represented at a Universal 



46 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

Exposition. I add that I am in this only the interpreter of the desire of the Emperor and of 
the imperial commission. 

When Congress shall have acted, it will then be highly necessary for the Commissioner of 
the United States to repair the time lost. You can then count upon the cordial co-operation 
of all our agents, if it will be useful to you. 



[Enclosure 4 to despatch J 89.] 

Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Le Play. 

Legation of the United States, 

Paris, October 25, 1856. 

Sir : I have received your communication of the 23d instant, announcing the assent of the 
imperial commission of the Universal Exposition to extend the time within Avhich the Com- 
missioner of the United States will be required to present his plan, to the 31 st of January, 1866. 

I cherish the hope that we shall have no further occasion to tax the indulgence of the com- 
mission, but, in any event, I beg to anticipate the instructions of my government by ten- 
dering to you, and through you to your associate commissioners, its thanks for the prompt 
and favorable consideration they had been pleased to bestow upon its application. 

Accept, Mr. Commissioner, the assurance of my most distinguished consideration. 

JOHN BIGELOW. 

Monsieur F. Le Play, 

Counsellor of State and Commissioner General. 



Mr. Seward, to Mr. Bigelow. 

No. 308.] Department of State, 

Washington, Novejnber 13, 1865. 

Sir : Your despatch of the 25th ultimo, communicating to me your corre- 
spondence with Mr. Le Play, in regard to the extension of the time for prepa- 
ration by applicants from this country for space in the French Universal Exhi- 
bition, has been received. 

I must request you to indicate, in such manner as may seem to you proper, 
the high sense entertained by this government of the courteous compliance by 
the imperial government and the commissioner general with the application. 

Upon the assembling of Congress I shall lose no time in adopting your sug- 
gestion relative to submitting to that body the correspondence. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

John Bigelow, Esq., tyc., tyc., fyc. 



Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward. 

Paris, November 16, 1865. 

My Dear Sir : I have received the enclosed communication from Mr. Beck- 
witb, designed to correct a misapprehension, supposed to exist" at the State De- 
partment, in regard to the necessity of prompt action by Congress upon the 
subject of the French Exposition of 1867. 

I am, dear sir, very sincerely, yours, 

JOHN BIGELOW. 
Hon. William H. Seward, #c., fyc, Sfc. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 47 

Mr. Beckicith to Mr. Bigelow. 

Paris, November 16, 1865. 

Dear Sir: The observations relating- to the action of Congress in regard to providing 
transportation for the exhibition, contained in the article annexed to the circular of the Depart- 
ment of State, of the 18th November, leave the impression that there is no occasion for the 
immediate decision of Congress on that subject, and as no other subject is named requiring 
early attention, the inference naturally suggests itself that there is none. 

I cannot doubt, however, that your despatches and my letters have presented the real 
situation, which requires an early decision, and that this will appear in the communications of 
government to Congress. 

The application for time (which was granted) related only to the report due on the 31st 
October. That report was preliminary, and admitted of subsequent modifications, and delay 
in regard to it was not of great moment, but the important report called for on the 3 1st 
January next is final in regard to that part of the work. It includes the allotment of ground 
and formation of the exhibition, (in embryo,) leaving but the subsequent labor of bringing 
it to maturity. This report cannot be made until after the action of Congress. 

All that has been done is provisional and contingent on the future decision of the govern- 
ment; but to make the report in question we must abandon contingencies, and enter upon 
positive engagements with the imperial commission and with exhibitors. The early decision 
of Congress is therefore indispensable to avoid further delay and another appeal for more 
time. 

There can be no doubt of the readiness of the imperial commission, and of the Emperor 
to grant all the delay possible, without interrupting seriously the general progress of the work ; 
but how far a delay of the important report alluded to would embarrass the general move- 
ment I am unable to judge. 

All that the imperial commission has said on the subject is, that the work is well advanced; 
that we are the only nation now in arrear, and they hope, and appear to expect, we will soon 
be able to make up lost time. I am the more anxious to have the present state of the busi- 
ness clearly understood — because, after the action of Congress, we shall need all the delay 
Ave can obtain. 

There is a good deal of work to be done in New York, which has been presented in ample 
detail to Mr. Derby, but the work cannot be done till after the decision of Congres, and if 
forced to be done hastily, cannot be well done. 

Yours truly, N. M. BECKWITH. 

John Bigelow, Esq., 8fc, &?c, Sfc. 



CIRCULAR 



New York, November 16, 1865. 

Applicants for space for the exhibition of articles at the Paris Universal Exhibition for 
1867, residing in the United States, should fill out in duplicate their applications according to 
the form hereto annexed, address them to me, and forward by mail, prepaying postage. 

Applicants will please comply with the following rules : 

1st. If it is desired to exhibit machines or other objects requiring foundations or special 
constructions, give the dimensions of these foundations or constructions. 

2d. If it is desired to exhibit apparatus requiring the employment of water, of gas, or of 
steam, state what quantity, or what pressure of water, or gas, or steam will be necesssry. 

3d. If it is desired to put machinery in motion, state what will be the velocity proper to 
each machine, and what motive power will be required, expressed in horse-power. 

4th. Furnish, in general, whatever information will be of use in the placing of the machines, 
and, wherever possible, a plan upon a fixed scale. 

5th. Persons who apply for room in the park, and propose to establish there constructions 
of any kind, or agricultural buildings, or gardens, will take care to give a plan, with a scale 
of the establishment proposed, with an indication of the extent of ground which will be 
necessary. 

The amount of space assigned to the United States in the exhibition palace is about thirty 
thousand feet. The space to be assigned to them in the surrounding park for agricultural 
and other purposes has not yet been decided upon ; and as it depends upon the nature of the 
applications for space there, it is very desirable that such applications should be sent in as soon 
as possible. 

As much promptness as may be consistent with due deliberation is earnestly recommended 
in all applications, as it is now ascertained that those received at New York after the 1st of 
January, 1866, will be too late. 



48 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 



Due notice Avill be given to applicants as to the acceptance or rejection of their applications. 
If accepted, it is expected that the applicants will have until January or February, 1867, to 
prepare and transport their specimens. 

J. C. DERBY, 
Agent of the Exhibition for the United States, No. 5 Spruce street, New York City. 

(Insert name in full, occupation or profession of applicant.) 

The undersigned respectfully applies for the privilege of exhibiting at the Paris Universal 
Exhibition for 1867, subject to the regulations thereof. 

(Insert signature of applicant.) 

(Residence, and situation of his establishment.) 

(Designation of medals obtained at the Universal Expositions of 1851, 1855, and 1862.) 

(Detailed statement of products which the applicant desires to exhibit.) 

SPACE APPLIED FOR IN THE UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION OF 1867. 



Extent of floor in the palace. 


Extent of wall in the palace. 


Exhibition in the park. 


Breadth of 
facade. 


Height. 


Depth. 


Breadth of 
facade. 


Height. 


Form and dimension ol 
space desired. 















(Let the information, &c, indicated in the foregoing circular follow here.) 



Copy transmitted to Secretary of State, by Mr. Derby. 

Agency for the United States, 
No. 5 Spruce street, Tribune Buildings, and 40 Park Roto, 

Times Building, New York, November 24, 1865. 

Sir : The papers which have been heretofore transmitted to your excellency concerning 
the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867 have, without doubt, impressed you with the advan- 
tage to be gained by a thorough and creditable representation of the art manufactures and 
agriculture cf the United States at that Exhibition. I have the honor to transmit to your 
Excellency by this mail several copies of a revised and enlarged edition of the official pamph- 
let on the subject, from which you will perceive that the extension of time for filing applica- 
tions asked for by our minister at Paris has been granted, and that all applications received 
by me before the 1st of January next will be in season, and be taken into consideration. 

As a most lucid and conclusive statement of the benefits to be derived from such exhibi- 
tions, I have the honor to invite your particular attention to a letter of the 3d of April last 
from Mr. Beckwith, the Special Commissioner of the United States for the exhibition, which 
is printed on the 8th page of the second edition of the pamphlet, and to one of the 30th of 
July last from the same gentleman, to be found on page 32. 

I am receiving daily very numerous applications, and there can be no doubt the space as- 
signed to our countrymen will be fully occupied ; but it is the anxious desire of the commis- 
sion to have this nation handsomely and completely represented in every department of its 
natural productions — its manufactures, arts, and science. 

With this view, I respectfully request that your excellency will cause to be distributed 
among leading manufacturers, mechanics, inventors, producers, engineers, architects, scien- 
tific and educational organizations, and among the principal newspaper editors in your State, 
the address, one hundred copies of which I enclose. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 49 

• 

It is apprehended that individuals may not fully appreciate the importance of providing a 
complete representation of the great staples and the crude agricultural and mineral produc- 
tions of their States ; and I submit to your excellency the expediency of your instructing 
some competent person to cause to be collected, labelled, and forwarded to the agency, spe- 
cimens of the character indicated, space for which will be reserved. 

In conclusion, I beg your excellency to adopt such general and timely measures as may 
be in your power towards developing a just representation of all important interests in your 
State ; and I venture to suggest that one of the readiest and most effective methods of doing 
this would be the publication, in some of the leading newspapers in the State, of copious ex- 
tracts from the official correspondence to which I have referred, and especially of the list of 
groups and classes of articles, which, as Mr. Beckwith remarks, is a most complete and com- 
prehensive enumeration of the productions of human art and industry ; and, as such, possesses 
great intrinsic value for the public. 

I have the honor to be, your excellency's very obedient servant, 

J. C. DERBY, 
General Agent in the United States. 

His Excellency Governor of the State of Maine, Augusta. 

(Same sent to governors of all States and Territories.) 



Office of the United States Agency of the Exposition, 

No. 5 Spruce street, Tribune Buildings, and No. 40 Park 

Row, Times Building, New York, November 23, 1865. 

To the manufacturers, mechanics, inventors, producers, engineers, architects, artists, and sci- 
entific and educational organizations of the United States. 

The undersigned, having been appointed by the Secretary of State to the above-named 
agency, and being desirous of the co-operation of his countrymen in his efforts to make as 
complete, interesting, and creditable as possible the representation of this country at the great 
exhibition, adopts this method of conveying to them information and suggestions upon the 
subject. 

In compliance with a request made through our minister at Paris, the time for filing ap- 
plications from the United States has been so far extended that all which reach the under- 
signed before the 1st of January next will be in season. When examined and considered, 
the decisions will be duly made known. 

Parties wishing to exhibit are requested to apply immediately to the undersigned for cor- 
rect forms of application and instructions, enclosing postage stamps for reply. 

Articles accepted should be delivered at New York prior to January 31, 1867. 

Accepted articles will be shipped from New York to Paris and returned at government ex- 
pense, provided the necessary action of Congress obtains. 

To prevent unnecessary trouble, it should be understood that it is a primary object to make 
the representation of the United States as complete as possible in all the classes and groups 
enumerated in the programme published in the official correspondence, and that it will there- 
fore be necessary to select representative articles in every class or group rather than accept an 
excess of any one class. 

In order to secure the universality of character above indicated, it is suggested that in each 
city or neighborhood those classes of manufacturers, artisans, and others who produce arti- 
cles for very general use or consumption, should, without any delay, agree among them- 
selves as to the specimens for which space should be applied for. 

Every effort should be made to bring forward new and useful mechanical inventions, com- 
binations, and fabrics, and pains should be taken to have all articles neatly and thoroughly 
linished and prepared for exhibition. 

As the decisions, report, and plan of arrangements from the undersigned must reach Paris 
prior to the 31st of January next, it is very desirable that all applications should be sent in 
as much earlier than the 1st of that month as may be practicable. 

J. C. DERBY, 
Agent for the Paris Universal Exhibition, No. 5 Spruce street, 

Tribune Buildings, and No. 40 Park Row, 

Times Building, New York. 



Professor Joy to Mr. Derby. 

[Extract.] 

Columbia College, 

Neio York, December 4, 1865. 

Dear Sir : The suggestion contained in your advertisement of the Paris Exposition "that 
some competent person be instructed in each State to cause to be collected, labelled and for- 
warded to the agency, specimens of agricultural and mineral productions of the State in 
4. 



50 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

• 

which the agent resides, in order to have complete representation of our resources of wealth 
at the Exposition," is one of the most important I have yet seen, and merits more attention 
than it may receive as a simple advertisement. I think the idea will be embodied in a circu- 
lar to be widely diffused, and that it will meet with a hearty response from every State. It 
would be well to have one person to direct and systematize the collection, some one already 
tolerably familiar with the metallic, agricultural, and mineral resources of the State he repre- 
sents. 

By addressing circulars to the various mining companies, manufacturing, and agricultural 
societies, colleges and institutes, I think sufficient voluntary contributions would be made. 
Such a feature would excite the utmost interest in Europe, and would tend to the investment 
of capital in sections where sources of wealth now lie dormant. It would be the interest of 
each State to employ and pay such an agent, and if the State decline to do it, private sub- 
scription ought to accomplish the end. If we could get up a rivalry between the towns of 
each county, and between the counties of each State, so much the better. 

It may be asked, why take all this trouble for a French Exposition ? The answer is a 
simple one. The audience in Paris is the largest, and the umpires the best in the world. 
Whoever carries off the award is the champion of the world. It is worth while to enter into 
a contest of this magnitude. By sending specimens to Paris we shall ascertain how much 
they are worth without any cost to ourselves. 

You remember the circumstances of the discovery of gold in Australia. Some geological 
specimens were brought to England. Sir R. Murchison happened to see them, and said at 
once, "Where these occur you will find gold." Humboldt saw the sand of Liberia, and 
told the owner of the property to search for diamonds. It was done, and the first one found 
was sent to Humboldt. Many have since been obtained there. A little red crystal was sent 
to France and proved to contain chromium. Afterwards the same metal was found near 
Baltimore, and we now use thousands of pounds of it for printing our bank notes. An Amer- 
ican apothecary discovered chloroform ; years after it was proposed by Dr. Simpson of Edin- 
burg, as an anaesthetic. There were no Expositions in those days to make known to the 
world at large important discoveries. I recollect in walking through the Paris Exposition 
of 1855, that the gentleman who w r as with me stepped before a case to spell out the name of 
a new substance — paraffine — "What in the world is that ? " said he. He made a note of it, 
as doubtless did many others. The substance now gives us light in candles, and is used on 
our matches ; is a help in photography, and has many applications, and yet it had long been 
known as a scientific curiosity. These illustrations taken from different fields of industry 
will suffice to show the importance of having everything represented at the Exposition. 

There is another idea, not mentioned in your circular, which I consider is second in impor- 
tance to none. It is the appointment, by the government, of a scientific commission to 
attend the Exposition, and report in detail upon each section. These reports ought to be 
made with great care — to be popular in style, to embrace every new application of science to 
art exhibited in the vast collection, and they ought to be published for general circulation. 
Witness the report by Professor Hoffman, of London, on the chemical section. It is the 
most valuable contribution ever made to the department of science. 

#*#* * * * * 

Yours very truly, 

CHARLES A. JOY. 
Mr. J. C. Derby. 



Mr. Thayer to Mr. Seward. 

Hall of Maryland Institute, 

Baltimore, Md., October 15, 1865. 

8m : "With the enclosed I have the honor to tender the distinguished con- 
sideration of the board of managers of the Maryland Institute. 
Very respectfully, 

NATH. H. THAYER, Cor. Sec. 



Maryland Institute to Mr. Seward. 

Resolved, That the Maryland Institute appreciates in a high degree the im- 
portance of the great World's Exposition of the works of industry and ar 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 51 

proposed to be held in Paris in 1867, under the auspices of the French govern- 
ment. 

Resolved, That the Institute has observed with much interest the attention 
paid to the subject by our Secretary of State, Hon. William H. Seward, through 
our minister at Paris. 

Resolved, That it is of the highest importance that the mechanical and 
artistic interests of our country should be properly represented, and that the 
attention of the Congress of the United States is earnestly invoked to the sub- 
ject, in order that an appropriation may be made necessary for the purpose. 

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the president of the 
Institute to urge the matter, and present the same to the attention of our senators 
and representatives, and the public, in order to serve the great object contem- 
plated. 

JOHN F. MEREDITH, Pres. 
NATH. H. THAYER, Cor. Sec. 



Mr. Seward to Mr. Thayer. 

Department of State, 

Washington, December 9, 1865. 

Sir : I have received your letter of the 15th of October transmitting a copy 
of resolutions adopted by the Maryland Institute upon the subject of the French 
Universal Exposition to be held in 1867. I beg you to accept and to convey 
to the Institute my apology for the tardiness of this acknowledgment, and the 
assurance of my high appreciation of the spirit which has prompted the resolu- 
tions. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
Nathan. H. Thayer, Esq., 

Corresponding Secretary of the Maryland Institute, Baltimore. 



Interesting letter from United Stales Commissioner Btckwith, and other papers containing valuable advice 

and information to exhibitors. 

Mr. J. C. Derby, United States despatch agent, who has been appointed by Secretary 
Seward to forward from this port such articles as may be sent from this country to the French 
exhibition, has opened offices for the reception of these articles at No. 5 Spruce street, Tri- 
bune buildings, and No. 40 Park row, Times building. Mr. Derby has just received from the 
State Department the following interesting despatches written by United States Commissioner 
Beckwith : 

[No. 4.] 

Paris, November 1, 1865. 

Dear Sir : The leading object of the French government in undertaking the exhibition of 
]867 is indicated in the method adopted by the imperial commission for the purpose of form- 
ing the exhibition. The principal motive of producers in exhibiting may be to advertise the 
qualities and value of their products, thus augmenting sales and profits. But these consider- 
ations are only collateral and secondary with the government. The primary object is an op- 
portunity for the comparison of products and the study of processes by which the knowledge 
that multiplies products, improves their qualities, and diminishes their cost, is diffused. 

For this purpose it is obvious that the exhibition should be " universal;" that is, it should 
comprise specimens of the useful products of the universe. To give to the exhibition, as far 



52 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

as possible, the character of universality, the method of forming it, suggested by experience, 
and adopted by the imperial commission, more fully than in any preceding exhibition, is the 
following : All useful products are first divided into groups, and the groups divided in 
classes. The ground on which the products are to be exhibited is then divided into compart- 
ments corresponding to the groups and classes, and these compartments are in due course to 
be filled with their appropriate objects. By this method of proceeding, the exhibition will 
of necessity have the character of universality intended. 

An examination of the grouping and classification which have been published will show 
that however diversified and different the products of different countries and climates, they 
will all find a place in the different classes, while no country of any extent, probably, will be 
found destitute of products suited to each class. 

In dividing the ground, the importance of some products as compared with those of the 
same country is not overlooked. The more important should have a corresponding represen- 
tation, which, in general, implies a larger space. 

This is provided for as follows: The divisions suited to the products of France and' 
adopted by the imperial commission are represented as a model. But discretion is reserved 
to the commission of each country to remodel this plan and adapt it to their own wants, 
which is only limited by the skeleton or autonomy of the general plan, which requires all 
groups and classes to be preserved, and precludes any from being entirely obliterated. 

The property of this provision may be explained in this manner: All countries, for 
example, produce clothing ; but the makers of clothes in our country might not feel much 
interest in exhibiting their work in another country with a view to markets where differences 
of climate, of race, and of habits are against them. 

There is, however, no product of labor more important, none in which human skill has 
been more universally, nor to which science and art have been more elaborately applied in 
the conversion of raw material, in the adaptation of garments to climates, to particular uses, 
and to the various conditions of life, and for the comparisons necessary to an appreciation of 
the best qualities of each ; collections of native costumes or clothing from all countries are 
equally desirable and valuable. 

The method thus carried out will obviously produce the conditions desired ; facilities of 
comparisons and the studies of processes relating to products of greater importance, and to 
those of less importance to the products of one locality, as compared with those of another in 
the same country, and to the products of all countries compared with each other. 

The exhibition will at the same time be, to a large extent, an advertisement of products 
for the direct interest of producers. 

My chief purpose in this brief explanation of method and object is to call your attention 
more pointedly to one of the topics in my letter of the 26th of October,* viz : The allotment 
of ground to exhibitors. 

The allotment of ground is the formation of your exhibition ; when this is complete your 
exhibition (in embryo) will be completed. 

The success of its representative character, in a national sense, depends, therefore, in the 
knowledge and judgment displayed in the allotments, because that determines at once the 
variety of products to be displayed, and the quality and importance ascribed to those selected 
for exhibition in each department. A right understanding of the views of the French gov- 
ernment in regard to the exhibition, in which the United States are invited to co-operate, 
and the importance which attaches to the allotments, will, I hope, excuse my having re- 
turned to this subject and dwelt so long upon it. 
Your obedient servant, 



J. C. Derby, Government Agent, New York. 



N. M. BECK WITH, 

United States Commissioner. 



[No. 9.] 

Paris, November 8, 1865. 

Dear Sir : I have alluded in previous letters to the great importance attached by the im- 
perial commission, not only to the exhibition of useful products, but to the exhibition of the 
methods and processes by which these objects are produced. 

Extensive preparations will be made in the palace and in the park to exhibit machinery in 
action, accompanied by the persons usually employed with it, displaying at once its method 
of action and its products. 

Great efforts are also making to bring together and exhibit groups of families of persons of 
all nations usually employed in the industrial arts, whether carried on by mechanical means 
or by the use of a few tools and implements combined with manual labor and skill, dressed 

* The letter here referred to is published in the official pamphlet, second edition, page 37, and with these 
papers. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PAEIS. 53 

in their native working costumes, installed in their usual habitations, or those resembling 
them, and fabricating the objects they exhibit. 

The interest and importance which the imperial commission ascribes to the exhibition of 
methods and processes, the scope intended to be given to this department, the police, sani- 
tary and other peculiar provisions requisite, and the general co-operation Avhich is invited, 
are set forth in the document hereto annexed. It comprises • thirty-two pages, chiefly in 
lithograph and partly in manuscript. It has not yet been published, and is incomplete. The 
plan is developed day by day, under the study of the imperial commission, aided by the sug- 
gestions of others, which are invited and frequently adopted. 

I send it in the imperfect form, because I think it sufficiently developed for your purposes, 
and no more time should be lost in presenting it for your consideration and that of the per- 
sons with whom you will doubtless advise in forming the exhibition. 

The programme, you will observe, includes all nations and nationalities, civilized and 
uncivilized, among whom industrial arts exist ; and there are few people without them. 

Doubtless the greatest variety and number of these industrial groups will come from 
oriental nations, who are little advanced in the science of mechanics, and destitute of the 
great combinations of capital and skill embraced in large manufactories. Industrial art 
among them is still confined to the family circle ; but their products are abundant in variety 
and quantity, frequently excellent in quality, often of great beauty, and in the important 
elements of utility and cost they still hold in check and nearly control the great markets of 
the east, exposed to the competition of the best fabrics of Europe and America. 

But the imperial commission does not limit its exhibition to the east; it hopes for similar 
exhibitions from North America and from South America ; and I am desired to bring the 
subject to your particular attention. 

The programme is comprehensive in the scope of industries it proposes to exhibit. 
Workers in metals, in glass, in chemicals, in wood, in leather, in all materials ; hand-spin- 
ning, weaving and embroidery, machine sewing, machine shoemaking, knotting of fish-nets, 
twisting of fish-lines. No industry will be out of place, even to a group of red Indians 
making pipes, bows, wampum, feathers or baskets. These last, indeed, v, r ould be among the 
most unique and interesting objects you could send. They would add a valuable feature to 
the ethnological elements which the many nationalities assembled, with their peculiar habits, 
manners, industries, and character, are expected to display, and w T hich subject the French 
scientific commission has been particularly directed to study. 

However uninteresting a group of red men may be in America, few objects would be 
thought more interesting in Europe ; while similar groups brought from the east may afford 
subjects equally curious and instructive to Americans. 
Your obedient servant, 

N. M. BECKWITH, 

United States Commissioner. 

J. C. Derby, Agent, New York. 



[No. 10.] 



Paris, November 8, 1885. 

Dear Sir: The special committee (French) on admissions, Class No. 93, on habitations 
combining cheapness, health, and comfort, have published the document annexed. 

Ground in the park is appropriated for this purpose, and great importance is attached by 
the imperial commission to the exhibition of rural habitations from all countries. It is sug- 
gested, also, that the furniture adapted to them, being on exhibition, may be placed in them, 
and that they may be inhabited by the families or groups of persons alluded to in my letter 
No. 9, and the documents attached to it. 

The impression prevails that we produce in America model houses of iron, combining many 
useful qualities arM adapted to many localities ; also model houses of wood, comprising simi- 
lar qualities in a higher degree — such houses as are shipped to California, &c. But great 
interest attaches to the exhibition of rural habitations, of whatever material, adapted to all 
classes of laborers and every grade of 'fortune, including the log-houses of remote settlers and 
those of the transitional condition, from an humbler to a higher state of prosperity and com- 
fort corresponding with the use and development of condition and wealth in settlements of 
rapid growth, in which no country can compare with America. A row or group of this kind 
would speak strongly to the eye and the mind. It would contrast strongly with correspond- 
ing groups from different parts of Europe and the east, where characteristics are immobility 
and poverty — no growth, no change. Habitations of this description are typical of the 
moral and physical condition of the great bulk of the population of all countries ; they indi- 
cate the degrees of intelligence, thrift, and prosperity among them, and would be objects of 



54 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

interest and instruction to the great emigratory classes, as well as to the philosopher and 
economist. 

Your obedient servant, 

N. M. BECKWITH, 

United States Commissioner. 
J. C. Derby, Esq., Agent, Neic York. 



[No. 12.] 

Paris, November 8, 1865. 

Dear Sir : The annexed publication is from the Special Commission on Costumes, Class 
92, and indicates the method adopted in France for perfecting that part of the exhibition. 

The people of western Europe descend from successive invasions of numerous races which 
settled in various localities, holding comparatively small intercourse with each other previ- 
ous to the epoch of railways, and preserving, consequently, great variety of dialect, habits, 
manners, and costumes. 

These characteristics are suggestive not only of differences of origin, but the influences 
which tend to preserve or create the differences in question, such as peculiarities of climate, 
soil, geographic configuration, occupation, &c, in localities but little removed from each 
other. 

The difference of origin and the better means of communication in America, the uniformity 
of institutions, the diffusion of common literature, the superior intelligence, and the homo- 
geneous character of the nation, tend alike to preclude the preservation of growth of similar 
local distinctions, while the brief history of the country from its settlement embraces too short 
a period of time for the modifications of character and the development of local differences 
which it is becoming the fashion to ascribe, with or without reason, to the powerful influence 
of the elements. 

I doubt if you will be able to make a collection of native costumes that will be very inter 
esting or instructive, whether in a historical or an ethnological sense. 
Your obedient servant, 

N. M. BECKWITH, U. S. Commissioner. 

J. C. Derby, Esq., Agent, New York. 



[No. 14.] 

Paris, November 8, 1865. 

Dear Sir: Class No. 52, in the 6th group, comprises machines and apparatuses suited to 
the uses of the exhibition. 

The plan of the special committee, to which the most of this Avork is assigned, is to supply 
motive power to the exhibition as far as practicable, by using the machines exhibited. 

The arrangements for steam power are as follows : 

The machines and apparatuses to be moved by steam power belong to Class 470,066, group 
6, and will occupy the great gallery, (hall,) forming the outer circle but one of the palace. 

The furnaces and generators will be placed in the park, outside the walls of the palace, in 
a circular line, parallel with the wall, but at equal distances from each other, to correspond 
with the different localities within the palace requiring steam. 

This service will be divided into fourteen sections, organized and worked separately. 

The force will be transmitted to shafts in gallery No. 6. The shafts will extend in poly- 
gonal lines yielding to the curve of the gallery, and transmitting the force to various ma- 
chines to be moved. 

It is proposed by the commission to supply requisite motive power by letting the work in 
sections to contractors aforfait, (by the job.) 

The annexed document, in lithograph, presents the conditions and bases on which the 
commission invites the offers of contractors, and they engage to give a preference to the con- 
tractors belonging to the nationality to which the contract may apply. 

It may be doubtful if any of our good engineers happen to be familiar enough with the 
elements of such a contract, such as cost of material, fuel, labor, living, &c, in Paris, to en- 
able them to make safe estimates and offers ; and equally doubtful whether their present em- 
ployment is not more remunerative than any they would be likely to obtain here in competi- 
tion with lower wages, permanent residence, and better knowledge of the situation. But 
there may be those who may be able to see their interest in it, and, in conformity with the 
inventors of the plan, and the wishes of the committee, I submit the matter to your consid- 
eration. 

Your obedient servant, 

N. M. BECKWITH, 

United States Commissioner. 

J. C. Derby, Esq., Agent, New York. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 55 

[No. 15.] 

Paris, November 8, 1865. 

Dear SlR: Many persons engaged in agriculture, manufactures, and various industries 
will desire to visit the exhibition for the purpose of studying it in connexion with their par- 
ticular interests. 

It is likely also that many of those persons whose studies would produce practical and use- 
ful results may not be able to afford the whole expense which it involves. 

The annexed publication emanates from an association collateral to the imperial commis- 
sion founded on a capital of $100,000, for the purpose of aiding the class of persons in ques- 
tion to visit the exhibition by means of contracts in their favor at reduced prices with rail- 
ways, steam navigation companies, hotel-keepers, &c. 

The articles of association and methods of proposed operations are described in the an- 
nexed pamphlet. I send it merely as a suggestion which some ingenious and well-disposed 
persons may embrace, to originate a similar organization, if thought useful and requisite on 
our side. 

Your obedient servant, 

N. M. BECKWITH, 

United States Commissioner. 

J. C. Derby, Esq., Agent, New York. 



THE FRENCH EXHIBITION. 

Great Preparations in France.— The Workingmen. — What American Exhibitors 

can do. — Suggestions. 

[Correspondence of the New York Evening Post.] 

Paris, November, 1865. 

Although sixteen months must pass before the opening of the French Universal Exposi- 
tion, it is a topic which excites much attention here. Its great importance as offering a com- 
plete development of the progress of the whole world of arts, science, manufactures, and me- 
chanical improvements, should not be thrown away upon the people of the United States. 
The Emperor, with his accustomed sagacity, offers an opportunity to his people to inform 
themselves of all that can aid them in the improvement and economy of all classes, and they 
are more than ready to take advantage of it. The representation of the products of French 
industry will be perfect. From the largest to the smallest all will be represented, and even 
now the various shops are ringing with the vigorous efforts of their workmen, the meanest of 
whom feels that the glory of France rests in some measure upon his shoulders. The whole 
empire is districted, and committees and sub-committees innumerable are formed for the pur- 
pose of fully setting forth the various specialties they represent. These committees are not 
for show, as has often been the case ; every man means Avork, and in his special sphere will 
conscientiously, and with that minuteness so thoroughly French, perform all that it is his 
duty to do. 

the workingmen. 

The workingmen, among themselves, are establishing savings banks, the collected funds 
in which are to pay the expenses of a certain number to visit the Exposition, and there to 
carefully study the department in which they are interested, and then to report to their col- 
leagues at home. Every facility will be afforded by the government, and even now arrange- 
ments are in preparation for the economical transit of one million of workingmen from their 
workshops and back, thereby adding millions of ideas and millions of francs to the future 
welfare of France. The colonies are all equally interested, and Cochin China, Cayenne, and 
Algeria will have their full share. 

ADVANTAGES. 

Although it is to France that the greatest good will result from the grand Exposition 
there is no nation but can derive advantages from an earnest and painstaking interest in the 
affair. This is fully appreciated on this side of the Atlantic. The commission for Great 
Britain, composed not of politicians, but of the most practical men in every department, is 
now hard at work, and the result will be seen first in the thorough manner in which each class 
and department will be represented, and second in the complete and exhaustive reports which 
will be made upon the articles exhibited and their bearing upon progress in England. The 
results of previous exhibitions have proved so practically valuable to both England and 
France that they will spare no expense to derive all the benefit possible from this the most 



56 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

complete opportunity ever offered. The solidity and comparative coarseness of English man 
ufactures has been tempered with the beauty and adornment of French skill, while the slen 
der and fragile of the French fabrics have added to them the strength of the English. Any 
American importer will, I am sure, testify to these facts. 

WHAT AMERICAN EXHIBITORS CAN DO. 

Germany, Italy, and Austria are already in the field with active commissions at work, and 
even China and Japan have their representatives, who give the assurance that all will be done 
on the part of their respective nations to merit attention. Now the question comes home to 
every American, what are we doing in this matter? Unfortunately, we can do but very 
little. No acceptance even of the space offered can be valid till agreed to by Congress. As 
matters now stand, through the energy of Mr. Bigelow, our minister, and Mr. Beckwith, the 
commissioner appointed by the State Department, everything is in a state of forward prepa- 
ration, simply needing the proper authority from Congress to be made perfect; thes,e gentle- 
men feeling confident of the result, and looking forward to the immense benefits which may 
be derived by our country from this Exposition, have guaranteed that the space allotted to the 
United States shall be filled. 

It must be remembered that this Exposition differs from all others in the fact that it is con- 
ducted by the representatives specially of the different national governments, the United 
States being alone recognized, and no attention will be paid, officially, to State representa- 
tives. This is no more than could be expected, when we remember the bickerings and trou- 
ble connected with former exhibitions. The commissioner in Paris has prepared with great 
care the plans for the occupation of the space assigned to the United States, and it now de- 
pends upon you at home to see that it is properly filled, and not made an advertising medium 
for paltry nick-nacks and nostrums, as is too often the case in our fairs in New York and 
other cities. Let every evidence of American industry be sought out from all parts of the 
country. We shall have no local jealousies ; the industry of the United States is to be shown, 
and we have the material with which to astonish the world. We can prove that, notwith- 
standing the war w T hich has devastated our land and homes, we can yet show evidences of pro- 
gress which will surprise ourselves. 

The first thing to be done is for Congress to vote the acceptance of the space offered to our 
country, and next to vote a sum sufficient to pay all expenses of transit from New York to 
the exhibition, and for a proper arrangement after they arrive. In my judgment nine-tenths 
of all the articles shipped will be sold before the exhibition closes, and therefore the expenses 
to the government could end there. Of the propriety of this expense being assumed by the 
government, I can see no question. Every article forwarded will be decided upon by an 
appropriate committee appointed by government, whose special duty it will be to see that all 
classes and departments are represented in their bearing upon the grand national result. This 
is the plan adopted by other nations, and it admits of a unity of design and perfectness of re- 
sult which can be arrived at in no other way. 



PRACTICAL RESULTS. 

As to the ultimate return to ourselves of all sums so invested, there cannot be a question. 
The comparatively small representation on the part of the United States in former exhibitions 
brought back returns a hundred-fold, and I doubt not that the amount received on the single 
item of "sewing machines" would have paid the expenses incurred on all articles exhibited 
by the United States heretofore. But the practical result to be gained by us, as a nation, is 
two-fold. Let the world see that we can be independent of all other nations ; that in wine, 
silk, laces, linen goods, machinery, and other articles of industry, we can compete favorably, 
and this will prove our strength in peace as effectively as in war. Much will depend upon 
the class of men selected to decide upon the distribution of the articles in the space desig- 
nated. They should be free from bias of any kind, and each committee practically acquainted 
with the subject placed in their hands. With the arrangements properly carried out in the 
United States, and the immediate action of Congress, no American who visits the grand ex- 
position but will have reason to feel proud of his country as there represented. 

VISITORS. 

To those acquainted with the Champ de Mars, it may be stated that its capacity will admit 
of the entire army of France, say six hundred thousand men, being placed within its borders. 
A company has been formed for the purpose of securing all the apartments in Paris, and then 
fix a price which, at the time of the Exposition, will admit of a handsome profit. It would be 
a profitable speculation for the various lines of steamers to make arrangements for return 
tickets at half price, as an inducement for those of limited means to take this opportunity to 
visit Europe. 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 57 

Mr. Bigeloiv to Mr. Seward. 

No. 204.] Legation of the United States, 

Paris, November 24, 1S65. 

Sir : I have the honor to tranamt herewith the communications which I 
have received from Mr. Beckwith, provisional commissioner of the United 
States for the French exhibition of 1867. The first presents an estimate of the 
probable expenses for which Congress, if inclined to encourage a national parti- 
cipation in this exhibition, should provide. These expenses Mr. Beckwith di- 
vides into three classes, in items : 

1st. Freight of articles to and from Europe. 

2d. Inland transport in France ; and 

3d. Fixtures within the palace. 

The two first items, depending upon the degree of encouragement given to 
exhibitions by Congress, can be better estimated at Washington than here. 

The cost of fixtures, installation, &c, Mr. Beckwith estimates at about 
$48,000. 

The amount of space allowed for the Exposition Avill be found greatly reduced 
by the deduction of the room required for the circulation of the public. 

Instead of having 2,788 square metres net, it appears that for purposes of 
exposition the area will not exceed 930 square metres ; or say, in round num- 
bers, 10,000 square feet. 

In view of this reduction of space, Mr. Beckwith suggests some considerations 
in favor of an exterior construction for the use of a certain class of exhibitors, 
to which I invite your attention. Including such a construction, Mr. Beckwith 
estimates the maximum expense, for which Congress should provide, at $300,000, 
and without such a structure, the maximum at $200,000. 

I think the event will justify his calculations. The second communication, 
dated November 23, presents some considerations in favor of a liberal provision 
by Congress for this exposition, which derive value from the large experience 
and acknowledged good sense of their author. They may help others who 
have less time to reflect upon the subject to satisfactory conclusions. 
I am, sir, with great respect, your very obedient servant, 

JOHN BIGELOW. 
Hon. William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State, Sfc, tyc., §c. 



Paris, November 22, 1865. 

Dear Sir : It was my intention to complete by this mail my transmissions to Mr. Derby, 
by sending the plans and drawings I am preparing for him. But they are still in the hands 
of the architect. They will, however, be soon completed, and Mr. Derby will receive them 
before he is •ready to act on them. He cannot make allotments of ground to exhibitors 
without them, nor with them, until he receives the decisions and instructions of the govern- 
ment. All other documents and information which Mr. Derby and the committee, which I 
suppose will aid him, will want at this stage have gone forward. 

It is desirable that the government should have an exact notice of the extent of the ground 
to be occupied, in order to form an estimate of the cost. 

It has been found by experience that two-thirds of the ground enclosed in the building is 
required for circulation. 

The section reserved for the United States comprises an area of 2, 788 scpiare metres. 

Two-thirds 1 , 858 

Of this area, the plan of the government takes for public avenues .... 1, 143 ] , 143 

1,645 715 

This leaves to be deducted for interior circulation ... 715 



58 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

Consequently 930 square metres remain to be covered with products. This shows the 
ground to be covered, but not the space to be occupied. That depends upon the nature of 
the products ; most of them which fall into groups ] , 2, 3, 4, and 5, will occupy much more 
vertical space than horizontal, while the products of groups 7 and 8 will require as much 
horizontal as vertical space on the average. Groups 8, 9, ]0 will be in the park. 

As regards the relation of the ground appropriated to the respective groups, and the rela- 
tion of the groups to the products of the UnitedfStates, we have more room relatively for 
groups 1 and 5 than for 6 and 7. The United States are comparatively feeble in products of 
the first five groups, and strong in the products of the 6th and 7th. 

Of the 930 metres to be covered, 407 belong to the two groups 6 and 7, but this is not 
enough. Machinery, tools, agricultural implements, &c, require a great deal of ground- 
room, and we shall need more if we need any. But the form of the building does not admit 
of giving us a larger proportion in this department, and as the distribution to countries are 
already made, we cannot have more ground in the building. I hope this want may be sup- 
plied by giving us more room in the park. 

I have discussed this subject with the imperial commission, but have arrived at no defini- 
tive conclusion, partly (I think) because I cannot engage positively to occupy the ground if 
conceded ;' partly because of the aversion to a change of plan ; and partly because in point 
of fact the imperial commission itself has not fully matured its own plans in regard to the 
park. It is offering to the nations what ground they want in the park, if they will occupy it 
in conformity with the programme, and at the same time is inviting from the respective for- 
eign commissions expressions as to the ground they really desire and how they propose to 
occupy it. This will result, perhaps, in some modifications and improvements of the orig- 
inal plan. 

The Belgian government, indeed, has obtained a concession of ground and presented a plan 
of a building (which has been accepted,) which it proposes to erect at its own cost, for the 
exhibition of products for which there is not room enough in the palace. 

If, therefore, the committee in New York is of the opinion that more room is requisite for 
Class 7, I do not doubt but it can be supplied in the park. And I have asked for estimates 
of the cost of a certain class of buildings with glass roofs and iron supports suitable for the 
occasion, which I intend to send forward to be used in case of need. 

The government of the United States may not think it worth their while to undertake an 
exhibition of the products of the country, if it must, after all, for want of room, be defective 
in some important department, and therefore not representative of the country in variety and 
quantity, nor national in its proportions, which has been the result with all similar private 
enterprises. Nor would Congress be satisfied with an exhibition defective in the department 
wherein we are really strongest because of the additional expense involved. The principal 
items of expense of the exhibition will be for freight to and from Europe, inland transporta- 
tion in France, and fixtures within the palace. The cost of freight and inland transport will 
depend on the quantity of products sent, and the quantity will be limited only by the appro- 
priations to defray expenses, or by the capacity of the ground to receive them. These two 
items can therefore be estimated at Washington better than anywhere else. The cost of the 
third item can be better estimated here. 

Nearly all the products in groups 1 to 5 will be exhibited in (vetrines) show-cases of re- 
spectable workmanship and fitted with glass. Products of the industrial arts show better in 
this manner. Glass gives a brilliancy to the contents of the cases, like setting to crystals. 
This is so well known to producers that no one is willing to dispense with it in presence of 
numberless competitors who are thus provided, and the provision, in fact, is universal. 

I have studied this item of cost by the aid of the accounts of similar work at the last exhi- 
bition in London and the previous one in Paris, and my opinion is that the cost of "instal- 
lations" required on the ground already appropriated to us will be about $48,000, and any- 
thing done in the park will be additional to that. I think the exhibition, as now projected, 
will cost our government from $200,000 to $300,000. I do not think it will fall below $200,000 
nor exceed $300,000, including the proposed additions in the park. This opinion rests on the 
assumption that the government will take up the work in the ports of embarkation in the 
United States and lay it down on its return to those ports and defray the expense. 
Very truly yours, 

N. M. BECKWITH. 

J. BiGELOW, Esq., 8fc, fyc, &?c. 



[Enclosure to despatch 204.] 

Paris, November 23, 1865. 

Dear Sir: In proposing the exhibition of 1867, the French government represented its 
chief object to be a collection of the useful products of all countries for the purposes of com- 
parison and the study of the methods and processes connected with the production and fabri- 
cation of the objects collected, and that this end would be attained in proportion to the variety 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 59 

and universality of the collection. National exhibitions thrown together by the spontaneous 
action of producers never have the character of universality desired. Producers who are most 
active, or who act most in the spirit of sparing no expense in advertisements to increase sales 
and profits, come forward, while many whose products are equally desirable, and perhaps 
more instructive, have no occasion or no disposition to make use of the method, and they do 
not appear. Such collections are defective, and to that extent failures. 

The course adopted by the French government on this occasion differs from that of pre- 
ceding attempts, and is expected to have better results. Invitations to co-operate are limited 
to governments, and the respective governments are solicited to undertake the work for their 
respective countries, giving to their exhibitions the arrangement provided in the general pro- 
gramme, which will bring them all in harmony with each other. Governments thus co-op- 
erating, it may be usually expected, will adopt each for itself the local measures necessary to 
prevent a partial exhibition and to secure a collection more universal and fairly representative 
of the country in every department of national and industrial products. In this connexion 
you will appreciate the importance which attaches to the distribution of the ground to exhib- 
itors, because that comprises the formation of the exhibition and determines its character. 

I consider it superfluous to develop and discuss the direct advantages of international ex- 
hibitions in general, or of this one in particular, to the United States. They present them- 
selves to intelligent minds, and, fortunately, we have no others to present them to. 

Those who are familiar with the industrial products of England (and who are not ?) are 
aware that their prominent qualities are strength, solidity, and utility; that those of France 
have always been remarkable for beauty and taste. They cannot have failed to observe, also, 
since the epoch of international exhibitions, the rapid improvement of English products in 
graceful forms, beautiful combinations of colors, finer designs, and superior taste, while those 
of France rise equally in the important elements of strength, durability, and fitness. Similar 
observations apply in an eminent degree to Belgium, who learns and combines from both ; 
and the same may be said in some degree of other surrounding nations. Nor is this surpris- 
ing. Inventions, combinations, discoveries, improved methods and processes, spring to light 
simultaneously in many fertile minds, and in many localities of all countries, but the knowl- 
edge is slow in spreading itself into general use. Its diffusion is quickened by interna- 
tional gatherings and exhibitions. But on this occasion there are indirect considerations 
which invite us with unusual urgence to co-operation. 

No one is more sensible than yourself of the deficiency of exact information in Europe in 
regard to America previous to the rebellion, in a political, literary, and moral sense, in a 
physical, geographical, statistical, financial, industrial, scientific, and productive sense, and 
in every sense. It was obvious at every step, everywhere, and among all classes, and it sug- 
gested an incredible indifference unaccountable to those not acquainted with the causes of 
such deficiency. The events of the last four years have made the United States more known 
than all the events of their previous history. Their magnitude, their resources, and their 
strength are now acknowledged. The strong impression produced is pleasing or unpleasing, 
according to the sympathies or aversion of classes and interests, but none deny the presence 
of a great power, and its advent is acceptable and hopeful to the masses of the numerous 
peoples. 

Emigration of the productive and industrial classes from Europe to America is an acknowl- 
edged source of prosperity, and has long received the encouragement of the government. 

An exhibition of the products of America in the centre of Europe, well selected, and com- 
plete enough to be national, showing the mineral and agricultural resources, the state of 
manufactures, the varieties and quantity of machinery, and the condition of the industrial arts 
in general, would, in my judgment, produce an impression of surprise analogous to that pro- 
duced by the disclosures of the war. The strongest impression would naturally fall on the 
mind of the most intelligent portion of the productive classes, who are most appreciative in 
this sense, and have the best means of being informed. This is the class of skilled labor and 
of practical knowledge whose emigration is highly desirable, but who are slowest to risk the 
change. They would see and judge for themselves of materials and resources and products ; 
of the existing conditions and opportunities open to them to better their condition in life. 

Financial organizations under the patronage of the French government (a plan of which I 
have sent Mr. Derby) are now forming to aid the class of operatives in question to assemble 
from all parts of Europe to be present at the exhibition and to remain and study it. The 
concourse will be large, and they are the practical students of exhibitions. 

We can participate in the benefits resulting from this, and I do not think it chimerical to 
suggest that an American exhibition, w r ell selected and really national, viewed merely in its 
economical aspect, is desirable, and would return to the treasury, by increased immigration 
and augmented revenues, more than its cost, however liberal the provision of Congress. 

The United States are the only nation of importance which has yet to express itself defin 
itively on the subject, and a lively interest attends the action of Congress, not only on account 
of its bearing on the exhibition, but as an expression of its appreciation of the object and en- 
lightened spirit of the undertaking. 
Very truly yours, 

N. M. BECKWITH. 

J. BlGELOW, Esq., <5fc, <Sfc, &c, Paris. 



60 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 



Mr. Derby to Mr. Seward. 

United States Despatch Agency, 
Spruce street, Tribune Buildings, New York, December 14, 1865. 

Sir: I have the honor to enclose for your perusal letters Nos. 21 and 
22 from Commissioner Beckwith, (copies,) relative to the French Exposition of 
1867 ; also letter No. 2 from Professor Joy, of Columbia College. These letters, 
I think, will be useful if presented in a circular form for general distribution 
among the parties most interested. „ 

I have received from Commissioner Beckwith the plans in detail for the 
United States department of the French Universal Exposition of 1867. They 
are very elaborate, but very clear. All that is necessary for this agency to 
make the fact delegated to it a complete success is the necessary action of Con- 
gress, without which all our efforts are as naught. 
Your obedient servant, 

J. C. DERBY, Agent, 8fc. 

Hon. William H. Seward. 



Mr. Beckwith to Mr. Derby. 

No. 21.] Paris, November 27, 1865. 

Dear Sir : I beg to hand you with this a number of drawings, six in all, numbered 1 to 
6 ; they develop plans of that section of the exhibition palace appropriated to the United 
States, and are accompanied by detailed explanations of each drawing, which document is 
numbered 77. Explanations of this kind seldom appear as clear to the reader as to the 
writer ; many details which are present in his mind, and fill up the outlines, are omitted in 
the description from a feeling that they will suggest themselves, and that a record of them 
is superfluous, and would only make the description tedious and obscure, rather than clear. 

But the plans and explanations will, I hope, be found sufficient to enable you to make the 
distribution of groups and classes, and the allotments of place to exhibitors with facility, and 
free from error. 

At all events, if you find my details defective, I must refer you to the French plan, No. 1, 
which I send you ; it is all I have had to work from, and I hope you may find the study of 
it more interesting than I do. 

The plans herewith relate only to the palace; nothing is said of the park, nor of the three 
groups, (8, 9, 10,) and twenty-two classes which belong to the park. I shall return to this 
subject as soon as the imperial commission makes up its mind on it, and decides on the dis- 
tribution and manner of occupying it. 

No definite apportionments of ground in the park to nationalities has yet been made. All 
are told they can have what they want, but I imagine there is some difference of opinion as 
to the manner of occupying the grounds. The imperial commission is, therefore, inviting 
from the foreign commissions suggestions as to how much ground they want, and how they 
wish to employ it. Doubtless in a few days the plan will be settled, and the appropriations 
made, to be occupied in conformity with the ground-plan which will be promulgated. 

I think you will find we have less room in group 6 in the palace than we require. My 
impression is, we ought to occupy twice as much room as we have in that department. The 
United States are not so strong in products of the other groups as in those of the sixth, 
and they are of a kind that require room. But the plan of the building does not admit of 
giving us a larger portion of room in that group ; it is the same as falls to other nations ; but 
the products of other nations do not demand so much room in that department. 

I have,- therefore, proposed, in writing to Washington, if it should be the opinion of your 
committee also, to supplement the ground of the group 6 in the park, provided the imperial 
commission will consent to the requisite modification ; and my present impression is, they will 
do so, though they have not yet given me a definite answer. You had better, therefore, as 
soon as you are ready to do so, express your opinion to the government on this subject, and 
inform me also of your views. 

I shall not wait, however, for the advice, but secure the ground conditionally if I can, but 
I wish to hear from you as soon as possible in regard to it. 

If we occupy a space in the park with objects of group 6, it will necessitate the construc- 
tion of a building suitable to the purpose at our expense ; but I think Ave shall not hesitate 
about that if we want it, nor do I imagine Congress will hesitate. 

The government of the United States will not be satisfied to undertake an exhibition of the 
produce of the country on a diminutive scale, nor permit it to fall short and be deficient for 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 61 

want of room, nor on account of the additional expense this may involve. Belgium is in a 
similar situation, and has resolved to supply the room she needs by building on the park, 
which, I have no doubt, will be permitted ; but if we find we can do without it I shall be 
glad of it. 

This proposal does not affect, the arrangements to be made for groups 8, 9, 10, which belong 
to the park, the provisions and allotments for which are now delayed by the imperial com- 
mission. 

Your obedient servant, 

J. C. DERBY, Esq , Agent, New York. N. M. BECKWITH, U. S. Comrrir. 



Mr. Beckicith to Mr. Derby. 

No. 22.] Paris, November 29, 1865. 

Dear Sir : I am favored with yours of the 13th instant, which reached me last evening, 
and I take down note of your observation. 

You will by this time have acquired a good idea of the work to be done, and papers I send 
you by this mail will complete your impression of the best way of doing it. It is necessary to 
appreciate the difference between an irregular and defective exhibition, which characterizes itself 
by spontaneous movements without concert of producers, and an exhibition formed by the 
state, which should be well selected, classified and complete in all its parts. 

You desire to know how long it will be safe to continue to receive applications, and the 
date of the latest mail which will reach here in time. 

It would be easy to reply to those inquiries if we could be governed solely by the demands 
of the imperial programme for January ; but this is impossible. We must be governed by 
the requirements of the programme, taking the risk of failure ; there is no other way. 

The first thing you have now to do is to sketch your plans of the ground for groups 2 and 
5, (see my explanation of plan 3.) The second is to decide the space you will give (or there- 
abouts) to each class of objects in the respective group, and mark out the space in conform- 
ity ; and the third is to select from your applications the most representative and suitable pro 
ducts, and form and file the groups and classes laid out in your plan. 

When this is completed your exhibition will be formed. This work requires knowledge of 
products, judgment, and care ; it cannot be hastily done and w T ell done, but it can doubtless 
be accomplished, and your plans drawn and catalogues made while Congress is deliberating. 

There will then remain but little to do after the decision of Congress but to announce to 
applicants the result of their applications. This announcement will constitute the definitive 
allotments of ground to exhibitors. It forms the contract between the exhibitors and the 
government, and. between the government and the imperial commission, and cannot be 
made, of course, till authorized by the government ; neither can you side with the applicants, 
nor side with imperial commission. You will doubtless have the work so far advanced, 
in the form indicated, by the time you receive the orders of the government, that you can close 
up the part necessary to the report of January 31, in very brief time. 

This is all you can do in advance, and you must be governed by the movements of Con- 
gress up to that period ; you cannot be governed by the requirements of the imperial pro- 
gramme. If we keep up with the action of Congress, (which we must do, ) and still the busi- 
ness from the delay of Congress falls behind and finally fails, we shall have done all yve can 
do. As you will see the movements of Congress you can shape your own by them; but 
should Congress decide sooner than I anticipate, you must still take time to do the work in 
a proper manner. We were not authorized to begin sooner, and it would be a mistake to 
close the work prematurely, half done or badly done. 

It is easier to find a reasonable and acceptable excuse for taking the time absolutely neces- 
sary than to apologize for imperfect and bad work when it appears. 

As soon as it is decided that Congress will pay the expenses you will have applications 
enough, which will enable y6u to fill up the groups and classes, and form the exhibition 
in a more complete manner than you could otherwise obtain. But the work of filling up the 
groups and classes will doubtless involve some negotiations Avith exhibitors, and will inevi- 
tably require time, and the work should not be slighted ; the despatch will depend on the 
skill and competency of your assistants. But I have no doubt of your being able to keep up 
with Congress, and you can judge better than I can when and what notice, or if any notice, 
to close the acceptance of applications, is necessary. 

If anything occurs to make it necessary to be more positive in regard to dates, I will of 
course advise you. All I can now say is, you have the programme and knowledge of the 
situation, and have only to use the greatest despatch compatible with the circumstances and 
with the work which must be done. 

I have no doubt from what I have since heard of Mr. Cams, he is qualified for the work I 
suggested, and will be very useful to you. You cannot get on without a competent man in 
that department, and if he is competent I may want him here. If Congress does not refuse 
to undertake the work, it will not refuse to pay the cost of it ; if it does refuse, there is an end 



62 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 

of it. No provision is made for the reception of the produce of any foreign country not pre- 
sented by the government of the country, nor is it likely, under the circumstances, that pro- 
ducers would be willing to appear in any other way even if it were practicable, which it is 
not. 

Your obedient servant, 

N. M. BECKWITH, 



J. C.Derby, Esq., Agent, New York 



United States Commissioner. 



Professor Joy to Mr. Derby. 

Columbia College, New York, December 6, 1865. 

Dear Sir: In my letter of the 4th instant I spoke of the importance of the appointment 
by government of a scientific commission to report upon the Exposition of 1867, and I have 
since observed that Mr. Beckwith makes the same suggestion in his communication of April 
3, 1865. I am glad, therefore, that the idea is likely to take root and come to proper devel- 
opment. 

" The appointment of professional and scientific persons to study and aid in the prepara- 
tion of a suitable report of the exhibition, to be subsequently published," ought to be made as 
soon as Congress can act upon the matter. 

The scientific committee will need much time for the consultation of the reports of previous 
exhibitions. They will desire to carry on extensive private correspondence, first, in this 
country, for the purpose of obtaining the most recent information upon matters relating to> 
the numerous subjects likely to be presented to them for study ; second, with foreign scien- 
tific and practical men in order to learn the best sources of information. Without great pre- 
vious study no person could prepare a clear and luminous report of any portion of the expo 
sition which would be of practical value. A report must not be a catalogue, it must sketch 
in a few words the history of the department under consideration, state its growth, point out 
its success, and give statistics and results in a way to enable any one, after reading the book, 
to invest money in new enterprises without the loss attendant upon a long series of experi- 
ments. 

These reports, in able hands, would become text-books for all branches of industry, and 
would tend to develop our resources as much as any papers Congress has as yet published. 

All parts of the country are equally interested in the publication and extensive circulation 
of such documents, and the wider this kind of knowledge is disseminated, the better for the 
country. 

Let there be ten members of the scientific committee, corresponding to the ten groups ol 
the Exposition, with power to appoint assistants where the amount of material is too great to 
be fully studied by one mind, viz : Committees on — 

1. Works of art. 

2. Materials and their applications in the liberal arts. 

3. Furniture and other objects used in dwellings. 

4. Garments, tissues for clothing, and other articles of wearing apparel. 

5. Products, wrought or unwrought, of extractive industries. 

6. Instruments and processes of common arts. 

7. Food, fresh and preserved, in various stages of preparation. 

8. Animals and specimens of agricultural establishments. 

9. Live products and specimens of horticultural establishments. 

10. Objects exhibited with a special view to the amelioration of the moral and physical 
condition of the population. 

It is obvious that ten men could not do justice to all these subjects, but it would probably 
be better to refer the matter to that number of persons to collate and prepare for publication 
the reports of the assistants they may select, the number and compensation of such assist- 
ants to be fixed by the commissioner. 

By the early appointment of this committee of ten the commissioner would have the ad- 
vice and assistance of the ablest men in the country. He would be their presiding officer, if 
the committee were to be- called together, and would have the right to call upon them for ser- 
vices at any time. 

I would suggest that the committee receive no compensation for their services further than 
a reimbursement of expenses actually incurred. For the purpose of control, let there be 
an amount fixed, beyond which expenses will not be paid. 

The committee, not being business men, could not take charge of the collection and ship- 
ment of goods, but they could greatly assist the agents of each State in bringing out the 
most characteristic and representative articles. The literary work of the commission could 
be divided among them, and thus matters would be greatly facilitated. 

The members of the commission ought to be familiar with at least the French language. 
A knowledge of German would greatly aid in the preparation of a report, as the arts and man* 



UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS. 63 

ufactures of Germany as represented in the Exposition will, no doubt, equal in importance 
those of any other country. Immediately after Congress shall have made the necessary ap- 
propriations, the appointment of the scientific committee ought to be made by the Secretary 
of State, and the committee be accredited to the imperial commission in Paris, as the official 
scientific representatives of the government to the Exposition. 

This committee would in no way interfere with the commissioners appointed by the vari- 
ous State executives, as their duties are of a different character. 

I would confide to the committee amission of a somewhat private character, viz-: the duty 
of disseminating knowledge of our country for the purpose of encouraging emigration. 

They could accomplish an important work by making known the extent of unappropriated 
lands in this country, by editing short statements to be published in French, on sheets, and 
placed conveniently for every one to take a copy, and by writing articles for the newspapers. 

The magnitude of the work expands before me as one idea follows another, but I believe* 
I have hit upon the principal points, and I shall be gratified if the views here expressed meet 
with your approbation. 

Very truly yours, 

CHARLES A. JOY. 

Mr. J. C. Derby. 




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